Two competitors, Sky and Virgin Media, have struck a strategic partnership to deliver data-driven, targeted TV advertising across the platforms of both service providers.
The partnership, which clearly shoots for scale around targeted TV ads, will involve a potential audience of about 30 million TV viewers in the U.K. and Ireland, they said, holding that those numbers put them on par with leading social networks.”
The agreement covers both targeted linear and VOD advertising and will involve technology developed by Liberty Global, Virgin Media’s parent company, as well as Sky’s AdSmart platform. They will develop a “one-stop buying point” via Sky Media for targeted ads, with impressions served across Virgin Media’s and Sky’s addressable set-top boxes.
Sky noted that there are currently more than 100 AdSmart-enabled channels, including its own channels as well as A+E Networks (History, Lifetime, Crime + Investigation) and Viacom (MTV, Comedy Central, Channel 5). NBCUniversal, including its Universal Channel, is set to join that list.
