Sky’s Hopes To Retain Its Place In Ad Lifecycle With Smart Analytics

LONDON — In the digital media ecosystem, disintermediation lurks around every corner. With so much of the advertising industry in flux, it is easy for an incumbent player to be dislodged by market forces.

European satellite operator, channel owner and telco Sky is fighting against that tide when it comes to next-generation advertising, launching an analytics suite for its its AdSmart addressable TV service.

“I think there’s a big challenge in the broadcaster market,” Sky Media’s deputy MD Jamie West acknowledges. “If they don’t add value to that full campaign lifecycle, you end up having a relationship that is very much about being a supplier or transactional, and the power shifts away either to the ad tech company or the media agencies/trading desk.

“We’re building up all of our analytics tools to prove our return on investment. But those same tools can enable agencies and advertisers to plan their campaigns and execute their campaigns and optimize their campaigns for the whole campaign lifecycle if you like.

“So it means that the dynamic and the relationship that Sky has is that very much of a tripartite relationship. We’re evenly balanced between advertiser, media owner, Sky, and the media agency, and that’s a much healthier environment and ecosystem to operate in.”

AdSmart Analytics is a managed service allied to AdSmart, the technology Sky uses to enable millions of satellite set-top boxes for household-targeted linear TV ads.

As part of its expansion, Sky Media just invested $10mn in Boston-based programmatic ad tech vendor DataXu.

 

 

 

This video was produced at the Future Of TV Advertising Forum. Beet.TV’s coverage is sponsored by Xaxis. You can find more Beet videos from the conference on this page