Sky takes charge of its mobile ad sales

Sky is set to sell mobile advertising around its content in a bid to offer advertisers cross-platform opportunities and push into the commercial mobile sector.

The mobile ad deals across the T-Mobile and Vodafone portals will kick-start this week with ads for Fiat and Adidas.

This is one of the first times a content owner has taken possession of advertising around its on-portal content.

Tim Hussein, head of mobile advertising at Sky, said: “Given the heritage of brands that advertise with Sky online and on TV, we see a great opportunity to communicate the possibilities of mobile.”

Sky is also looking to expand its mobile offering to include Sky Sports TV and its 24/7 Football VoD service and plans to sell ads on its off-portal site.

The broadcaster is currently negotiating terms with the other three major operators.

Hussein said: “The reason we’ve done this deal with the operators is to give advertisers a single buying point on Sky. They can come to us to buy a Sky customer wherever that customer is.”

Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com