Sky COO Mike Darcey has committed the satcaster to the use tailored or targeted advertising, but has stopped short of giving a date for its introduction, initially slated for the first half of 2011.
In a speech to the annual conference of advertising body ISBA, Darcey said Sky AdSmart would see a selection of ads housed on the hard disk drive of the Sky+ receiver. “Of course getting a project of this scale, ambition and complexity up and running is some task, but it’s one on which we’re making good headway. The prize is considerable, so we’re taking our time to make sure we get it right”.
There are differing views as to the possible timetable for the introduction of AdSmart. Sky is working with NDS, which is supplying its Dynamic Addressable Advertising system, a technology which although complete continues to be modified. Sky also has its SkyView panel of 33,000 Sky Digital homes that combines viewing behaviour with brand purchasing data.
Darcey explained that AdSmart would take customer information, such as postcode, age and viewing packages, used with permission to better segment its audience. “So if you’re Ford, rather than having to take a bet that the Mondeo ad is your best option across a single nationwide Sky 1 audience, you can segment audiences so that they see the most relevant Ford ad available. So a young women sees an ad for a hatchback and the family of five next door sees an ad for an MPV.”
Sky AdSmart was last year introduced onto the Sky Player online catch-up service.
Darcey said that ten years after its introduction Sky+ was far from the bad guy, reminding his audience that Sky did not charge advertisers for instances where the advertisement was not viewed, he pointed out that more than 80% of all viewing through the Sky+ box is still to live linear TV.
