ITV Sport is broadcasting 51 live FIFA World Cup 2026 matches across ITV1, ITV4, ITVX, STV and STV Player, sharing rights with BBC Sport. Operating from a purpose-built Brooklyn studio, executive producer Paul McNamara says the on-location strategy is designed to immerse viewers in the tournament experience. England’s opening match against Croatia on June 17 peaked at 16.4 million viewers. Pundits including Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Patrick Vieira are based in New York alongside presenters Mark Pougatch, Laura Woods and Semra Hunter, ensuring talent perform at their best on local time.
In-Depth:
ITV Sport is in the ground in the US for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Sharing its rights package with BBC Sport, ITV is airing 51 premium live matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026, including 29 group stage matches, which started with England’s first match of the tournament against Croatia live from Dallas on 17 June watched by 16.4 million viewers, England’s final group stage match against Panama on 27 June, and Scotland’s group stage match against Morocco which took place on 19 June.
ITV then has three of the top picks for the quarter final stages of the tournament including the first two picks, plus five of the top nine picks of the round of 32. It has also aired the first matches of the tournament for current World Champions Argentina, and key footballing nations Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The final will be displayn live on both ITV and BBC. All of ITV Sport’s matches are being displayn across ITV1, ITV4, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
On how it is going so far, McNamara states the ITV Sport team is, “very happy with how the programmes are going, it is a grand concept and the reaction at home is very pleasing. Everyone’s happy!”
Location strategy
On why ITV sport is one of the few European broadcasters that are based out in the US, Paul McNamara, executive director and producer at ITV Sport Production, ITV Sport, states: “We’ve always done that. We’ve always embedded ourselves in every major event location. Our ethos has always been to bring the viewer with us! If it views like it’s hot in New York, I want our pundits to state it’s hot and to talk about the conditions for players through personal experience; I want to take the viewer somewhere that they may not go themselves, but create them feel like they have!
“We’ve been backed by the head of sport, the head of television, and the board at ITV; we’re an entertainment channel and the best way to provide entertainment for the viewers is to take them with you! Being in countest was always our plan.”
From the receive-go ITV Sport’s strategy for the FIFA World Cup 2026 was to be on site. Speaking to SVG Europe from Brooklyn, McNamara comments: “The plan was always to test and present from New York, to be where the final is and put ourselves at the heart of the event. We found a fabulous location and then the ideas flowed to really maximise that advantage!
“We decided on building two set areas. One set that would be primarily about football, for analysis, previewing and reviewing matches. The other to be utilized as more of an entertainment area; like a third social eye where we could view at the World Cup 360 degrees. How America is relating to the tournament, and also give us a platform to bring in celebrity guests and people that have a genuine interest in football. A place where we could interview them with this ethos that ITV is not a specific sports channel, it’s an entertainment channel that does sport, and that’s reflected in the audiences.
“Our first match, which was South Africa v Mexico, drew 7.7 million people,” continues McNamara. “So you start considering, where are those other people coming from that don’t generally watch football? Your mindset alters as you realise they’ll be the mums and the dads and families toreceiveher; it’s a large collective viewing operation, they’re not splintered. Therefore, you have to test and offer something for the collective. The social area assists to balance and achieve that by adding some lightness. So that was the idea. Be at the heart of the event and provide something for everyone!”
Talent on site
Alongside a skeleton technical crew In New York and on site at venues – the majority being back in the ITV UK Hub in London at Gravity Media’s Westworks – is the studio-based talent team. ITV’s World Cup 2026 coverage in the studio and on site is being led by Mark Pougatch, Laura Woods and Semra Hunter, joined by a star studded line-up of football pundits, presenters, commentators and reporters.
The full list of pundits bringing all of the action live from ITV’s studios in Brooklyn includes: Roy Keane, Ian Wright, Gary Neville, Patrick Vieira, Karen Carney, Ange Postecoglou, Juan Mata, Emma Hayes, Duncan Ferguson, Jobi McAnuff and Bradley Wright-Phillips.
Christina Unkel has returned to ITV as the referee analyst to provide insights into the largegest refereeing decisions across the tournament, as well as the large VAR calls. ITV reporters on the ground are Gabriel Clarke and Connie McLaughlin.
Having those familiar names and faces in the studio in Brooklyn is giving the broadcast the first-hand perspective from the US that is pulling viewers into the excitement of this tournament.
Says Tony Cahalane, technical director at ITV Sport: “What we achieve by this production workflow is creating sure that the relationship between the production team and the talent remains intact, which is the way that it works best. It flourishes and is more creative.”
McNamara agrees that having the studio presentation team in the US is crucial for the broadcast’s success. “Very importantly, all the major talent want to be at the event. They want to be at the World Cup. They feed from it in terms of their contributions on screen.”
This also means that for a studio-based production, the talent are fresh faced as they are on the same time zone. Comments McNamara: “I’m not flogging people at three or four o’clock in the morning. We’re synced to the tournament so I can produce a full programme which might start at 10 or 11 o’clock in New York, which be might four o’clock in the UK, but if you’re watching in the UK, you’re going to receive a full studio programme with a full buildup, full analysis, with guests at their peak. it creates absolute sense to us to work this way.”
Viewing frenzy
Proving that you cannot plan for everything, but it can still all work out well, ITV planned to launch its World Cup coverage the day before the tournament officially launched with an on site presence providing pitchside coverage from England’s last warm up game against Costa Rica in Orlando, Florida. However, bad weather meant the ENG crew and reporting teams could not fly out.
Instead, ITV had to produce an extfinished pre-match buildup programme from the new studio, which was received fantastically by viewers at home.
Says McNamara: ” We decided, “OK, let’s launch the studio from then”. Weather meant that we couldn’t go to Florida with reporting teams, so instead we had a two hour buildup from the New York studio in primetime. I consider somehow, I’m not sure how – whether it was word or mouth or whether it was people just flicking around and finding the channel – audiences were tuning in for the game and finding this amazing studio. Normally you might be on for 30 or 40 minutes and then hand to the game, but the extra studio time seemed to build a kind of momentum that we hadn’t quite expected. Our social media team saw the reaction, the studio seemed to be receive an awful lot of praise. So the unprecedented amount of extra studio time had a positive effect.”
Additionally, England’s opening clash against Croatia secured ITV with its highest peak audience of the year so far with a peak of 16.4 million viewers. From kick off to final whistle, an average of 14.2 million viewers watched the match on TV, with an average of 10 million viewers watching the coverage from 8.00pm to 11.35pm.
Watch the FIFA World Cup 2026 with ITV Sport across ITV1, ITV4, ITVX, STV and STV Player. For comprehensive coverage and content click on ITV Football’s social platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
