LONDON — European satellite TV operator Sky is far more than a one-trick pony. As well as beaming satellite TV for the last couple of decades, Sky is also a telco, a TV channel operator and an ad sales house.
That diversity gives it breadth that extends beyond its own platform, and beyond its own content.
Case in point – Sky AdSmart, Sky’s solution for delivering customised TV ads to viewers’ set-top boxes, no longer just functions whilst viewers are watching Sky’s owned and operated channels.
“Sky Media, the advertising sales division of Sky, sells on behalf of all of Sky’s wholly owned channels, but also the likes of NBCU, Discovery, Viacom, Channel 5, those sorts of brands,” Sky Media’s deputy MD Jamie West tells Beet.TV in this video interview.
“So, whereas in the US, the platform operators tend to offer addressability and targeted advertising only in those cable opt-out minutes, we, as a vertically integrated platform, offer addressability and targeted advertising across the full spectrum of advertising minutes across the day and across channels.
“We’ve launched Sky AdSmart, our addressable TV product, with NBCU, with Fox, with A+E Networks, and with more channels – Viacom, digital channels – and then Channel 5 goes live, I think it’s in and around Q1 2017.”
Channel 5 is the lifestyle channel, the fifth and final channel to be awarded a digital terrestrial license in the 1990s, that was acquired by Viacom in 2014.
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.
