Missed your favourite ITV show because you’re out of the country? ITV Hub is the online catch-up service for the UK channel, accessible either through the ITV website or via one of the official apps.
It’s the ideal way to catch-up on your favourite ITV shows like Love Island, but there is one big downside: it’s UK only, which means you can’t watch anything on ITV Hub if you live outside the UK, or even if you’re just visiting somewhere else on holiday.
Fortunately, there is a way around this, and it’s possible to watch ITV Hub from abroad easily enough, whether that’s on your PC, Mac, TV, or iPhone or Android device.
Watch ITV Hub in Europe with ITV Hub+
If you’re going somewhere within Europe then the easiest thing to do is probably just sign up for ITV Hub+, a paid-for version of the service. It’s £3.99 per month, but there’s a 7-day free trial that could be perfect to cover a single trip abroad.
In addition to letting you enjoy all the benefits of ITV Hub from anywhere in the EU, it also lets you watch ad-free and download episodes to watch offline – though that feature is iOS-only for now. You also can only watch programmes on catch-up, not live TV.
One quick caveat: we’re writing this pre-Brexit, and we’re not sure right now how the service will change if/when Britain leaves the EU – it’s pretty likely that this benefit might disappear from the service, as it’s an EU regulation that means ITV has to offer it.
Watch ITV Hub outside Europe with a VPN
The best way to watch ITV Hub outside the EU is to get hold of a VPN, or virtual private network, which lets you browse the internet as if you were based in another country. Essentially it means that even if you’re on holiday in Spain, you can trick the ITV Hub website or app into thinking you’re still at home in the UK.
There are countless VPNs on the market, but we’ve tested plenty and have some recommendations. NordVPN is our top recommendation – it sits at the top of our streaming VPN chart, and is also the best overall VPN thanks to a combination of speed, reliability, and ease of use. We also recommend ExpressVPN and PureVPN.
Once you’ve subscribed to and installed your VPN of choice on the device you want to use to access ITV Hub, simply turn it on and make sure to choose a server based in the UK. Then you can open the ITV Hub website or app on the same device, and it should treat you as if you were in the UK.
If for some reason it doesn’t work, try switching to a different UK server in the VPN – streaming platforms like ITV Hub try to block known VPN IP addresses, so you might need to try a couple of different servers before you find one that works. It’s also worth noting that if you have an ad blocker on, ITV Hub might block that – and since some VPNs have built-in ad-blocking, you might need to turn off that part of the software. Luckily there are other ways to skip ads on ITV Hub.