For the first time, small to medium sized businesses will be able to run a single campaign across Sky, Channel 4 and ITV. It’s an idea Australia’s broadcasters once proposed but fell through.
Channel 4, ITV and Sky, in collaboration with Comcast Advertising, are planning to launch a single advertising marketplace that will allow easy access to premium on demand and streaming inventory through a single campaign for the very first time.
The landmark move is designed to “super charge” the breadth of brands advertising on TV by bringing together addressable inventory from all three sales houses into a single marketplace.
This will enable new advertisers to TV a direct and simple way to access premium video content.
Small to medium-sized businesses will be empowered to access and purchase addressable inventory to run a single campaign across the three broadcaster sales houses, with biddable pricing and more tools.
This leverages the scale and quality of programming and audiences across Channel 4 Sales, ITV Media and Sky Media, making addressable TV inventory accessible for businesses that are used to buying their own media in social and digital environments.
The marketplace, which is set to launch in 2026, will be powered by Comcast’s Universal Ads platform and FreeWheel’s technology.
The broadcasters are also in talks to simplify the purchase of addressable inventory for media agencies, including exploring the potential of a joint agency-facing solution, based on ITV’s Planet V technology.
Kelly Williams, managing director, Commercial, ITV said: “As a TV industry, it is important that we collaborate to make television easy to plan, buy and measure for our established customers as well as the huge potential of new TV brands. Both of these initiatives, this new marketplace for SME’s and Planet V for agencies, represent a very exciting future.”
Channel 4 chief commercial officer Rak Patel added: “This marketplace underlines what sets TV apart from all other media: its ability to collaborate at scale. By uniting the power of Channel 4, ITV and Sky through a single marketplace, we’re creating a new home for premium video while accelerating our Fast Forward strategy to become the first public service streamer.”
An Aussie pipe dream?
Pooling together TV inventory into a single marketplace is an idea that Australia’s broadcasters Nine, Seven and Network Ten have previously considered but fell flat.
Meliora managing partner Clive Dickens, who previously served as chief digital officer of Seven West Media, recently told B&T he would like to see more collaboration between the Australian BVOD players to create a “point of difference around local content” and allow them to better compete with the global SVOD giants that are flooding the Australian market.
It’s also long been a request from local media buyers.
A single marketplace would open up TV advertising to a broader range of smaller advertisers who traditionally don’t have marketing budgets large enough to invest in TV ads.
The UK’s ad marketplace may soon provide a blueprint for Australia’s TV industry.
