ITV’s advertising revenues on its flagship channel are up by an estimated 4 per cent to 5 per cent in September, as the commercial broadcaster cashes in on interest in the group stages of the Rugby World Cup.

That is ahead of the 2 per cent growth predicted by the broadcaster only last month and gives Michael Grade, ITV’s chairman, hope that the network can avoid a repeat of the disaster of last year’s football World Cup, where it failed to profit from the tournament.

Jim McDonald, head of broadcast for the Havas-owned MPG, said: “This time ITV have been better prepared; they started selling this to advertisers nine months ago. It helps they are the only broadcaster of the tournament, rather than sharing with the BBC.”

The six-week-long competition began last night with Argentina defeating France, the host country, 17-12. All 48 games are being shown live on ITV, with 26 on ITV1 and the rest on its digital channels. That the competition is being held in France ensures that that games are played in a favourable time zone. Key to further commercial success will be the performance of England, whom ITV will be expecting to reach the quarter-finals. At present advertisers have held off booking in October, when the knockout stages are held. October bookings are forecast to be down about 3 per cent on last year, but that is expected to improve as some “late money” emerges.

ITV has sold the sponsorship rights to the tournament to EDF Energy, the French utility group, and the carmaker Peugeot for slightly more than £4 million. That package, which covers ITV’s website as well as on-screen, was sold in March, an early deal that emphasised advertiser interest. MPG estimates that if England were to make the final, it would generate a further £7 million – as advertisers chase the upmarket male audience. In the previous Rugby World Cup, which England won, 92 per cent of upmarket ABC1 men watched at least one match; only 72 per cent watched at least one game in the 2006 football World Cup – where England faltered in the last eight.

ITV paid £40 million for the rights to show, exclusively in the UK, the 2003 and 2007 tournaments, reckoning that while the 2003 competition in Australia would generate only modest returns, the 2007 competition would prove worthwhile. An auction for 2011 in New Zealand is to be conducted by the International Rugby Board soon after the World Cup ends.

ITV is reluctant to predict the level of audiences it will get and, although matches are expected to generate strong shares in daytime and in the early evening, it is not clear how well the peak-time games will fare against normal programming from rivals. England’s triumph in 2003 was watched by 14.5 million at 9am, but that figure is clearly exceptional and will not be repeated except in the unlikely event that England reach the final again.

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