Sky Boosts Advertiser Choice With Active Sponsorship
BSkyB has expanded its Active channel with a range of flexible sponsorship packages, building on the success of red button advertising by allowing advertisers to associate their brand with relevant editorial content and promotions within Sky Active.
The Active channel delivers interactive “entertainment and lifestyle services” to more than 7.7 million Sky households, with the first sponsorship packages being taken by long-running food brand, Captain Birds Eye.
The promotion will mark the first ever sponsorship of Sky Active’s feature sections, running for four weeks and covering the channel’s Health & Lifestyle section in an interactive extension of its Nutrition Mission campaign.
In addition to editorial tie-ins, Captain Birds Eye’s brand and strap line will feature throughout the Health & Lifestyle section, enhancing awareness and driving traffic to the interactive area. The brand’s linear television advertisement will also appear regularly on Sky Active’s video-based front page and contents page, with viewers able to jump directly to the Health & Lifestyle section on seeing the commercial.
The move to allow sponsorships is part of Sky’s drive for more varied solutions for advertisers. As well as offering sponsorships of existing features pages, Sky plans to work with advertisers to develop new content areas, with fully integrated promotional campaigns.
Last year saw Sky announce a radical facelift for Sky Active, designed to deliver more televisual and video content through a magazine-style channel with on-demand entertainment and information.
The new format was introduced on 18 November, with the broadcaster claiming the channel had a weekly reach of more than 1 million individuals (see Sky Revamps Interactive Services To Engage Viewers).
Explaining the latest move, Alasdair Wright, director of Sky Active, said: “Last year’s re-design has created unprecedented opportunities for advertisers to get more closely involved in interactive content. Clients can choose either to extend existing interactive campaigns with supporting editorial content or to pursue stand alone opportunities within Sky Active.
“Captain Birds Eye’s Nutrition Mission is an excellent illustration of how Sky Active can engage consumers in content that supports advertisers’ commercial objectives.”
Nicki Hickson, communications manager for Captain Birds Eye, added: “The context of Health & Lifestyle really supports what we’re saying to mums; that they can serve up food that their kids love, knowing that it is nutritious and free from artificial additives.”
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