The UK broadcaster says advertisers are focusing on the World Cup instead.
ITV has confirmed it will no longer feature the controversial in-game ads within its coverage of the rugby Nations Championship next month after being unable to sell the ad slots, which it says is because brands are focusing on the World Cup.
This comes after fans at the World Cup have started to boo the hydration breaks introduced in the tournament. These breaks essentially splits the matches into four quarters and has had a notable effect on the momentum of the game.
Some broadcasters have used the breaks to air ads, which has garnered over $250m in ad revenue in the US alone – with a total of roughly seven hours, 30 minutes and 40 seconds of extra ad time across the tournament.
The breaks have been widely criticised by players, commentators, and fans as being a thinly veiled excuse for an ad break, especially given that many matches are played in air conditioned stadiums.
As such, ITV has decided against antagonising viewers within the upcoming rugby tournament. The ad breaks were first introduced during the Six Nations earlier this year – and featured a split-screen ad, most commonly during a scrum.
This invited its own round of backlash. Rugby has notoriously convoluted rules and can be difficult to follow at the best of times, so distracting from a crucial part of the game just to sell ad slots did not go down particularly well with viewers.
Last year, Virgin Atlantic and Samsung purchased the split screen ad slots, but both have chosen not to do so this year.
ITV bought the rights for the UK live coverage of each of the Nations Championship games for the first two tournaments, 2026 and 2028.
The first tournament begins on Saturday (4 July 2026), and will overlap with the World Cup. Critics claim this may have influenced the decision to leave out the in-game ads, as viewers may quickly become fatigued or irritated by constant interruptions to different sporting events.
The unpopularity of the FIFA World Cup hydration breaks has prompted UEFA to rule out mandated hydration breaks during the 2028 men’s Euro tournament.
