Nations Championship: ITV pauses scrum ads during July Tests

The in-play, in-picture adverts will not be part of ITV’s coverage of the Nations Championship in July, but the 20-second slots, shown before a scrum, will return for the November Test and next year’s Six Nations.

The abundance of opportunities in ITV’s schedule in July, with an extended 48-team football World Cup dominating the airwaves, meant that advertiser spending was directed elsewhere.

During their debut at this year’s Six Nations, scrum slots, of which one is available per half, were bought by blue-chip companies such as Samsung and Virgin Atlantic.

During the segment, the audio from the stadium was drowned out, the screen split in half, and an ad played on the right side of the screen. Some viewers criticized the concept as intrusive.

Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison said the ads could be “a bit jarring” for UK viewers who, unlike viewers in the US and Australia, are used to ads appearing around the game rather than during it.

The Nations Championship pits Northern Hemisphere teams from six countries – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy – against Southern Hemisphere sides South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina and invitees Fiji and Japan.

It will begin with six games on Saturday, July 11 and July 18 before ending in November with six more games.