10-07-2025
Love Island to air on Disney+ as ITV races to win over younger viewers
ITV has struck a deal to show its programmes on Disney+ as the British broadcaster scrambles to attract younger viewers in the digital age.
Disney+ subscribers will be given access to ITV programmes, including popular favourites such as Love Island and Endevoursr, as well as original dramas such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office and A Spy Among Friends.
Under the deal, a selection of Disney content will also be available on ITV's streaming platform ITVX. This will include hit series The Bear and Only Murders in the Building, as well as selected seasons of reality favourites such as The Kardashians and family titles including Lilo and Stitch: The Series.
The tie-up, which launches next week, underscores efforts by ITV to reach new audiences amid an exodus of viewers to streaming rivals, particularly among younger audiences.
ITV bosses will be hoping that showcasing programmes on Disney will build exposure to Gen Z viewers who may otherwise shun conventional television.
For Disney+, which will primarily promote early series of programmes aimed at adults, it could also help to build subscribers among ITV's older audience.
Karl Holmes, general manager of Disney+ in Europe, said: 'I get to put great adult-skewing general entertainment content from Disney in front of an audience who typically are less receptive to Disney+ as a platform.
'ITVX has a heartland of over-45s and, in particular, over-55s; our heartland is under-34s. That older audience on ITVX tend to consider Disney as a very strong brand, but a brand which is more for families and kids.'
'Mutually beneficial alliance'
Kevin Lygo, ITV's head of media and entertainment, said: 'Disney are fantastic partners with a brilliant breadth of content. This mutually beneficial alliance allows us to show our complementary audiences a specially selected collection of titles, regularly updating, that gives a flavour of the range in our respective offerings.
'For us, this deal means even more great content for viewers on ITVX, and even more opportunity for viewers to find and enjoy our distinctive titles and services.'
ITV launched its streaming service at the end of 2022 in an effort to adapt to shifting viewing habits and reduce its reliance on declining linear television advertising revenues.
But the company is still grappling with a tough advertising market and has begun wielding the axe on staff and daytime programming as part of a wider cost-cutting drive.
Increasingly fierce competition is fuelling greater collaboration between traditional broadcasters, as well as new deals with streaming rivals.
ITV, Channel 4 and Sky have agreed to combine their online advertising businesses as they attempt to build scale. Meanwhile, French broadcaster TF1 has struck a first-of-its-kind deal to air its channels on Netflix.
The Disney deal comes amid discussions over a potential break-up of ITV, with suitors circling the broadcaster's booming production division. Banijay, the French television giant behind Big Brother, MasterChef and Peaky Blinders, and All3Media, the maker of shows including The Traitors and Race Across the World, are among the parties interested in ITV Studios.
The decline of traditional television has also prompted speculation about more radical consolidation that could lead to mergers between British broadcasters.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former ITV chairman, this week told MPs that the UK had been 'very slow' to develop a strategy for the future of television and predicted that the country would have no more than two public service broadcasters in a decade's time.
The tie-up between ITV and Disney builds on the existing collaboration between the two media companies.
ITV's studios division is behind recent Disney hits including Rivals and Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, while the broadcaster is the free-to-air home for Disney+ shows such as Renegade Nell and the upcoming Under the Bridge.
The streaming deal will be conducted as a programming swap. ITV will retain advertising revenues from Disney shows on its streaming platforms. Disney+, which operates several subscription tiers including an ad-funded one, will also keep any revenues from the ITV programmes.
Disney is understood to be in active discussions with broadcasters in a number of other markets to sign similar deals.
Mr Holmes said: 'We think this is a great example of Disney being supportive of free-to-air broadcasters and their long-term sustainability.'
