ITV Pauses Scrum Ad Slots for July Tests
ITV will not use in-play scrum adverts during the Nations Championship in July, but the 20-second slots will return for the November Tests and next year's Six Nations.
ITV has announced that it will not feature in-play, in-picture advertisements during its coverage of the Nations Championship in July. The 20-second slots, which appear before a scrum, were introduced during this year's Six Nations and will return for the November internationals and the 2026 Six Nations.
The decision to pause the adverts in July is due to the expanded 48-team football World Cup dominating the airwaves that month, diverting advertising spend elsewhere. During the Six Nations debut, the slots—one per half—were bought by blue-chip companies including Samsung and Virgin Atlantic.
The adverts worked by lowering the stadium audio, splitting the screen, and showing the advertisement on the right-hand side. Some viewers criticized the concept as intrusive. Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison said the adverts may be "a little bit uncomfortable" for UK viewers, who are accustomed to adverts appearing around play rather than during it, unlike audiences in the US and Australia.
The Nations Championship pits northern hemisphere teams from the Six Nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy) against southern hemisphere sides South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina, plus invited teams Fiji and Japan. The tournament begins on Saturday with six matches, with six more on July 11 and July 18, concluding in November.
