Sky AdSmart has added its first public service broadcast channel to its targeting portfolio. Effective from today (26 January) the UK’s third largest commercial channel, Channel5, has become the latest Viacom-owned network to join Sky AdSmart, following Comedy Central and MTV.
Launched in January 2014, Sky Adsmart tailors what is shown in TV ad breaks according to a household’s profile and location. Over 1,000 advertisers have run more than 7,500 campaigns via the tech, with many regional advertisers attracted to TV for the first time because of the ability to target households by location.
The tech offers more than 1,200 different attributes to target Sky households and the agency response has been enthusiastic. The tech has won numerous awards, including a Connie in 2014.
“Sky AdSmart changes the way that people look at TV advertising,” said Graeme Hutcheson, director of Sky AdSmart & Digital. “The platform is continually evolving and we are really excited to announce one of the UK’s largest channels going live this month.”
Mark Swift, SVP, UK Ad Sales for Viacom UK, added: “We chose Sky Media as a single point of sale for all Viacom’s UK channels in large part because of their track record of innovation to improve the targeting and effectiveness of TV advertising.
“We’ve already experienced encouraging results for MTV and Comedy Central with Sky AdSmart and we look forward to creating more value for both our commercial partners and Viacom with the addition of Channel 5.”
The deal for Channel 5 to join Sky AdSmart results from an expanded partnership arrangement reached by Sky and Viacom in 2015, which secured carriage for Viacom’s networks on Sky’s TV platform and extended an existing advertising sales partnership to include Channel 5 and its associated channels.
