ITV is expected to generate an extra £2 million in advertising from the Rugby World Cup this weekend, the extra cash coming on the back of England’s unexpected presence in the tournament’s semi-finals.

An England victory over France tomorrow evening would take ITV’s windfall to between £5 million and £7 million, helping the broadcaster to improve its position in a month in which it had been expected to take just below £140 million in advertising on ITV1.

Jim MacDonald, head of broadcast at MPG, the media buyer, said: “The extra audiences mean ad breaks that would have cost £50,000 will cost more like £100,000. For ITV this is a dream scenario - they were basing their forecasts on England reaching the quarter-finals.”

Last week 3.7 million people were recorded as watching England’s defeat of Australia, a 37 per cent share of the total television audience. That figure excludes people watching in pubs and bars.

Media buyers believe that ITV1 will end the month down about 4 per cent on last year and the company as a whole down about 2 per cent. That is about a percentage point better than was predicted a month ago, helped by the semi-final showing.

Although October is negative, it comes off the back of a healthy September, where bookings were up 4 to 5 per cent. Advertisers typically concentrate their spending on the group phases, where they can be sure that home countries will be involved.

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