Launching next year, the marketplace will allow SMEs to access inventory across all three broadcasters.
Sky, Channel 4 and ITV are aiming to make premium broadcast inventory more accessible for smaller businesses through a self-serve TV advertising marketplace.
Launching in 2026 in collaboration with Comcast Advertising, the marketplace will allow SMEs to access premium on demand and streaming inventory across all three broadcasters through a single campaign for the first time.
Companies will be able to access biddable pricing alongside other tools in an effort to encourage new brands to advertise on TV, particularly brands used to managing their own media on social and digital.
Brands will also be able to access tools and analytics to optimise and measure their advertising performance.
The partnership follows the successful US launch of Comcast’s Universal Ads platform, explains Sky chief advertising, group data and new revenue officer Priya Dogra, who says the broadcasters are looking to “open up TV advertising to new brands”.
ITV looks to become ‘engine for growth’ with suite of new ad tools
“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,” adds Channel 4 chief commercial officer Rak Patel.
The broadcasters are discussing ways to simplify the purchase of addressable inventory for media agencies, potentially including a joint agency-facing solution, based on ITV’s Planet V technology.
ITV, Sky and Channel 4 previously joined forces in September for the creation of their joint advertising measurement tool Lantern, which aims to give advertisers and agencies “greater confidence” in investing in TV.
The marketplace launch follows news last week of ITV’s new interactive ad format and planning tool for SMEs. The Outcomes Planer allows small businesses to forecast short-term metrics to evidence the need for TV investment. Marketers can predict their campaign outcomes based on different scenarios, such as budget size, brand size, campaign length and seasonality.
Also announced last week, the ITV YouTube Affinities tool will enable brands to target “highly relevant” audiences on YouTube according to their interests, while Lead Gen Ads enables advertisers to capture interest and qualified leads directly from a TV ad on streaming service ITVX.
