LONDON –It may own several of the leading pay-TV platforms on the continent but, in Europe, group operator LibertyGlobal says its subsidiaries are enablers of the addressable ad opportunity for broadcasters themselves.
“It’s about keeping the value and dollars in the content ecosystem – equipping our content partners with more tools,” Liberty Global advanced advertising and data MD John Paul tells Beet.TV in this video interview.
“The major difference to the US market is, we don’t have our own inventory – we don’t have an ad business, except for Latin America. We assume a true enabler role. We work with broadcasters to establish the capability and then they do the selling, we contribute our data and access to our set-top boxes.”
Over the last year, Liberty Global’s Belgian operator Telenet has been testing the delivery of house-hold-customised, addressable TV ads for channel operator SBS, using technology from INIVIDI. Now Paul says the practice will go fully live from Q1 early next year.
Liberty Global’s footprint includes Belgian’s Telenet, Germany’s Unitymedia, eastern Europe’s UPC, Netherland’s Ziggo and, since 2014, UK cable operator Virgin Media, which is coming up to speed on enabling broadcasters to place targeted ads in VOD served through its box.
“Broadcasters are trying to think through how to sell impression-based advertising.,” Paul adds. “We’re figuring it out together.”
This interview was conducted at the Future of TV Advertising Forum in London. Beet.TV’s coverage is presented by the 605. For other videos from the series, please visit this page.
