Small and medium sized businesses will be able to run a single campaign across Sky, Channel 4 and ITV after the introduction of a new ad buying marketplace.
The three broadcasters have agreed to create the marketplace that has been designed to give new-to-TV advertisers a direct, simple way to access premium video content. It will launch in 2026, powered by Comcast’s Universal Ads platform and FreeWheel’s technology.
Small to medium sized businesses will be able to access and purchase addressable inventory to run a single campaign across the three broadcaster sales houses – with biddable pricing and more tools – leveraging the scale and quality of programming and audiences across Channel 4 Sales, ITV Media and Sky Media. Providing simplified access across the three portfolios will make addressable TV inventory accessible for businesses that are used to buying their own media in social and digital environments.
The broadcasters are also in discussions to simplify the purchase of addressable inventory for media agencies. This includes exploring the potential of a joint agency-facing solution, based on ITV’s Planet V technology.
Priya Dogra, Chief Advertising, Group Data and New Revenue Officer, Sky, said: “In today’s fast-evolving media landscape, we strongly believe success will require collaboration, simplification, and innovation. Building on this innovation, we also want to simplify TV trading for established brands and agencies and look forward to exploring potential opportunities with ITV and Channel 4 to use Planet V.”
Kelly Williams, Managing Director, Commercial, ITV added: “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 to TV brands. Both of these initiatives, this new marketplace for SME’s and Planet V for agencies, represent a very exciting future.”
Features will include the ability for first time advertisers to buy, measure, and report a single campaign across all the sales houses. Tools and analytics will also be provided to help brands measure and optimise their advertising performance.
