ITV's profits are set to nearly treble, City forecasts show.

This is due to the Euro 2024 football tournament, the broadcaster's big-hitting dramas and less of an obligation to pump cash into its streaming service ITV X.

ITV is expected to report earnings of £133 million for the six months to the end of June.

This is up from £45 million the year before, when it was investing heavily in ITV X.

The FTSE 100 company has banked on the success of this advertising-funded platform, which can be viewed ad-free for a subscription.

The hope is that the service will offset the long-term fall in the number of those watching its traditional television channels.

The current talked-about shows on ITV X include the mini-series Douglas Is Cancelled, starring Hugh Bonneville, Alex Kingston and Karen Gillan. 

But ITV's most high-profile drama this year has been Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which aired in early January. 

It is credited with reigniting interest in the national scandal that saw more than 900 sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for fraud, theft and false accounting.

Quay Street Productions, a subsidiary of ITV Studios produced Fool Me Once, one of the ten most-watched English-language dramas on Netflix, and the reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge. 

Susannah Streeter, analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, has said the latest profit forecasts are 'promising' and spending was 'starting to pay off' for the group, which is run by Dame Carolyn McCall. Meanwhile, Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the Euros – which saw England reach the final, only to lose to Spain – was a 'lifeline' for the business after a rocky 2023.

ITV's shares have risen by 40 per cent over the past six months, partly driven by bid speculation, with Netflix viewed by some as one possible predator.

Ian Lance of Redwheel, the fund manager that runs the Temple Bar investment trust, has said that Netflix spends more than £11.5 billion a year on programming while ITV's market capitalisation is only £3.3 billion. On that basis 'Netflix could have ITV's entire back catalogue for a fraction of what they spend on programming'.