* Q3 ad revenue to fall 5% despite July's football boost

* H1 adjusted operating profit flat at £146 million

* Studios profit falls 9%, partly reflecting soap changes

(Adds CEO comments on World Cup, ad market in paragraphs 2-6)

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - ITV, the British

broadcaster that has agreed to sell its channels and streaming

platform to Comcast's ( CMCSA ) Sky, said the World Cup lifted first-half

ad revenue but forecast declining sales in the third quarter as

the boost from the tournament faded.

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said more than 200 brands had

advertised around the competition, including some new to TV.

She said some brands shifted spending into June and July to

capitalise on the tournament's buzz and audiences, though it was

difficult to quantify how much had been simply brought forward.

ITV, which shared World Cup coverage with the BBC, drew a

peak audience of more than 18 million for the England versus

Norway match, one of three England games it showed exclusively.

ITV forecast a drop of around 5% in ad revenue for the third

quarter despite July's football boost.

McCall said with the shifts around the World Cup, a better

measure was the nine months to end-September, which would be

flat, outperforming the market. She added that it was too early

to see what the important final quarter would bring.

ITV, which will be a standalone production business after

the Sky deal, which is expected to close in the first half of

2027, reported flat operating profit of £146 million ($196.2

million) for the first half, slightly below analyst

expectations.

Profit at Studios fell 9%, partly due to scheduling changes

to long-running soaps including "Coronation Street".

It said revenue and profit in Studios would be weighted

towards the second half, when it has a strong slate of shows

such as "The Gentlemen" and "The Woods" for Netflix.

McCall said ITV was on track to deliver good revenue growth

in Studios and strong, profitable digital revenue growth within

its Media & Entertainment broadcast business for the full year.

($1 = 0.7440 pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young and Ros

Russell)