Virgin Media is due to launch Sky’s AdSmart technology throughout its UK footprint from July and in Ireland later this year.
The partnership covers both targeted linear and video on demand TV advertising and details of the roll-out were revealed at the Connected TV World Summit in London.
AdSmart enables different ads to be shown to households watching the same programme, letting advertisers tailor campaigns based on audiences and locations.
Once fully deployed, the addressable TV ad deal will let advertisers target potential audiences of more than 30 million viewers across Sky and Virgin Media households.
Virgin Media will use technology developed by parent company Liberty Global as well as Sky’s AdSmart capabilities, while Sky Media will act as exclusive advertising sales agent across the full AdSmart network in the UK.
Virgin Media also plans to launch AdSmart on its own free-to-air TV service Virgin Media One in the Republic of Ireland and is due to start trials of the service there in the fourth quarter of 2019.
“This is a very exciting time as we count down to the launch of the next generation of television advertising across our network,” Virgin Media Television Managing Director, Pat Kiely, told delegates at Connected TV World.
“Our partnership with Sky will ensure that television advertisers, new and old, will have access to an extended reach of 30 million targetable TV viewers in the UK. AdSmart is truly a game changer for our industry and we’re delighted to play our part by adding scale and building on its current momentum.”
Sky’s Group Director of Advanced Advertising, Jamie West, said in a statement: “This partnership with Virgin Media brings advertisers even more scale and opportunity to reach TV audiences in a trusted, brand-safe and measurable way.
“With the recent announcement that AdSmart will be going global with NBC Universal in the US, AdSmart is quickly becoming the one-stop shop for reaching consumers around the world within a premium video environment.”
Sky and Virgin Media first announced their AdSmart partnership back in June 2017.
Andy McDonald writes for Videonet, where this article was first published.
