Samsung and Virgin Atlantic will be the first brands to trial the new format during the Men’s Six Nations tournament from Thursday, ITV said.
ITV is to screen ads during live action of England rugby matches for the first time this week, it has announced.
Samsung and Virgin Atlantic will be the first brands to trial the new format during the Men’s Six Nations tournament from Thursday, the broadcaster said.
In a UK media first, the specially-created ads will be shown twice per game – one in each half – during the break in play just before a scrum.
The commercials will fill the right half of the screen and last 20 seconds, with live pictures continuing on the left.
The timings will be overseen by the ITV Sport production team.
Samsung’s ad for its Galaxy Fold Z7 shows a group of fans watching live rugby together on their phone and asks: “Can your phone make you feel this close?”
Mark Trinder, ITV’s director of commercial sales and partnerships, said: “At ITV throughout 2026 we’re bringing the most exciting advertising opportunities of the year to brands – live, free-to-air sport on a scale we’ve never seen before.
“I’m delighted to welcome Samsung and Virgin Atlantic as our first partners for the new picture-in-picture offering, which is sure to be a high-attention format.”
Split-screen, in-game advertising has been used by TV networks in the United States for several years and is being trialled by RTE in the Irish national broadcaster’s racing coverage in Ireland.
It will be the first time that commercial broadcasters of rugby and football in the UK have shown ads outside the traditional half-time breaks or before and after matches.
ITV and the BBC agreed a four-year deal to keep the tournament on free-to-air TV earlier this year.
At the time of the deal, Tom Harrison, the chief executive of Six Nations Rugby, said: “The commercial environment in which rugby is operating is extremely challenging and the battle for audience attention has never been greater, but the Six Nations stands alongside the very greatest occasions in world sport, which is reflected by these partnerships.”
The 2026 Six Nations tournament sees defending champions France taking on 2024 winners Ireland in Paris, with England, France and Ireland favourites to challenge for the title.
