ITV Studios has partnered with Whip Media to manage performance tracking on its FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channels.
The production arm of the commercial broadcaster has over 7,000 hours of original programming across 60 production labels. It has produced some of the world’s most popular TV shows including Love Island, I’m a Celebrity and Come Dine with Me.
The growth of ITV Studios’ global distribution partners – especially in the evolving FAST/AVOD market – created the need for better content performance tracking and distribution analytics, allowing ITV Studios to keep pace with the high volume of reporting internally and from its partners. Whip Media’s solution consolidates and centralises distributors’ partner data across global platforms while also automating accounting processes to manage and recognize revenue.
“Our team couldn’t be more excited to help ITV Studios – one of the premier production and distribution companies in the world – track the performance of its series across a rapidly growing number of platforms,” said Paul Hastings, Whip Media’s SVP of Global Sales. “As content distribution continues to become increasingly stratified and difficult to manage, it’s imperative for entertainment companies to streamline how their data is analysed and processed. Whip Media’s platform will help ITV Studios accomplish that goal – allowing it to focus on what it does best, which is churning out great series for millions of viewers to enjoy.”
“We’re very pleased to be partnering with the Whip Media team and utilise their expertise in this space. The Performance Track tool and the data it will unlock is a key component of ITV Studios’ overall strategy to expand and grow our digital business across AVOD, FAST and other digital platforms and deepen our understanding of how our content engages with viewers across multiple platforms and territories,” said Graham Haigh, EVP Business Development & Digital Distribution at ITV Studios.
ITV has launched FAST channels on the Samsung TV Plus platform and they will also form a part of ITVX, launching later this year.
