The Year Ahead 2026: The broadcasters’ strategy to take on the platforms

At the Year Ahead event held on 8 January, Rak Patel, chief commercial officer at Channel 4 joined The Media Leader to discuss the joint self-serve TV advertising marketplace it had announced with ITV and Sky last year.

The collaboration aims to make broadcaster inventory more accessible for digital-native advertiser as well as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The marketplace will harness adtech from Comcast Advertising and will utilise its Universal Ads platform which launched last year in the US.

Patel highlights how the key aim is to make broadcaster inventory a viable option for SMBs and to “take the battle to the platforms.”

Watch the full interview below:

Channel 4, ITV and Sky roll out ad marketplace to attract new advertisers