Rival broadcasters to again join forces for TV festival

Channel 4, ITV and Sky will again come together to pitch the value of TV advertising at the Big TV Festival 2019.

With TV under threat from global streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the UK commercial broadcasters have collaborated on a number of projects this year, including the launch of a joint research project, a series of joint events with agencies and advertisers, and the 2018 festival.

“It is vital that the TV industry works together to show key decision makers in client and agency organisations how brilliant TV is,” said Jonathan Allan, Channel 4’s chief commercial officer.

The 2019 festival, co-produced by TV marketing body Thinkbox, is to be bigger than 2018’s, with the number of attendees to increase from 150 to over 200. It will take place from 7-8 March in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham; the line-up will be revealed in the new year.

Kelly Williams, managing director, commercial, ITV, added: “The first Big TV Festival was a huge success and I’m excited that we’re growing and building on that success in 2019. We know that TV has the ability to grow brands and deliver real results for business partners, and working with Channel 4, Sky and Thinkbox we can share the power of TV with the next generation of commercial decision makers.”