UK commercial television broadcaster ITV said the European football championship in June would boost advertising, helping it make up ground lost in the first three months of the year.
ITV's chief executive Adam Crozier expects a "very strong" second quarter, including the start of the soccer tournament.
This has has expanded to 24 teams this year and will include Ireland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"There's a lot of extra games, which is good for us and our coverage, and obviously having more home nations there will provide extra interest in the competition right across the UK," Crozier said.
The UK's biggest commercial free-to-air broadcaster said it expected to outperform the TV advertising market in 2016 despite ad revenues being flat in the first three months of the year.
"If you talk to the major advertisers as we do, I think there's no doubt they are still expecting a positive year," Crozier said, after ITV reported a 20% jump in 2015 earnings per share.
Analysts said the outlook for the first quarter was worse than expected, adding he had forecast a 2.5% rise.
ITV has built up its production operations in recent years, reducing its reliance on its channels, which broadcast long-running soap opera "Coronation Street" and crime drama "Vera".
Total revenue from ITV Studios rose by a third to £1.24 billion, it said, with more than half generated from outside Britain.
The company's successes included US dramas "Aquarius" and "The Good Witch", and the acquisition of Talpa Media last year brought reality TV format "The Voice" into the ITV stable.
Adjusted earnings at the business rose 27% to £206m, outperforming a 16% rise in ITV's broadcast and online arm, which reported earnings of £659m.
Its main ITV channel performed poorly last year in attracting viewers, with its share falling 4%.
It put the drop down to new digital channels, some shows not performing as well as expected and a relatively strong performance from the BBC.
Crozier said viewers had returned at the start of 2016, with share on ITV 1 up 5%.
The company also said today it would pay £400m in a special dividend of 10 pence a share in addition to a final dividend of 4.1 pence, which was ahead of previous guidance.
The company recently completed a deal to buy the television operations of UTV Media, including UTV Ireland.
