Sky Media has announced the results of the most comprehensive research into the UK addressable TV market ever – AdSmart: 5 Years and Forward.
The expansion of AdSmart into Virgin Media homes from July 1st this year was a huge step for the proposition. It means that 40 per cent of homes are now addressable giving brands the ability to reach 30 million individuals with relevant messaging in the brand-safe and effective medium of TV.
With the competition for advertising spend more and more competitive, addressable TV gives brands the ability to match the targeting found online but, in an engaging, brand-safe and transparent environment.
The research reveals:
- Addressable drives ad engagement. Facial recognition analysis revealed that when addressable ads are on TV, viewers’ attentiveness to the screen can be as much as a third higher (35 per cent) and on average 21 per cent more engaged.
- Addressable cuts channel switching during ads. An analysis using 52,000 ad breaks showed that channel switching was halved (reducing by 48 per cent) when addressable ads were in the first three positions of a break, compared to standard linear TV ads.
- Addressable is amplified when combined with linear. Combining linear with addressable TV advertising increases ad awareness by nearly a quarter (22 per cent). When the frequency of addressable ads is equal to or higher than linear exposure, ad recall is boosted by half (49 per cent).
- Addressable works. Higher engagement and relevance have clear business results, increasing purchase intent by 7 per cent overall and by as much as 20 per cent for new to TV advertisers who benefit more from the exposure and credibility TV delivers.
- Addressable delivers tangible business results for new to TV brands. Local brands like Gasway and Richardson’s Garden Centre have seen significant business growth (35 per cent and 17 per cent uplift respectively). They are among the rapidly growing group of businesses seeing huge business development through the use of addressable TV advertising.
The addressable TV market has grown substantially since AdSmart was first launched in 2014. Sky Media has launched more than 17,000 addressable TV campaigns for 1,800 brands. AdSmart has been successfully used by household names like British Airways Holidays, Barclays and Mr Porter to smaller or more niche businesses like Zap, a garage door provider, Tapi Carpets and McLaren sports cars. Tapi Carpets generated more than 7000 orders netting 3.4 million in revenue directly attributed to its AdSmart campaign. In fact, now 1,000 businesses new to TV have launched advertising campaigns on the medium, indicating how addressable TV is opening up the TV market to brands of all sizes. With an impressive return rate of 70%, and 75 of the top 100 UK brands using AdSmart, it shows how the advanced TV targeting proposition is working for marketers and becoming the mainstream in the media mix.
Jamie West, Director of Strategy & Capability Planning at Sky Media, said, “We’ve seen from day-one the amazing impact AdSmart has had for advertisers and it’s great to share our learnings of the AdSmart journey so far. TV is well-known for its impressive brand building abilities. Now with clear evidence of the effective performance of highly targeted campaigns across TV, its full potential is being discovered and unleashed by broadcasters, viewers and brands.
“And why wouldn’t it work? It makes perfect sense – if an ad is more relevant to you, then you are more likely to remember it and that translates in greater impact. Marrying the expectations of digital targeting with the brand safe and transparent environment of TV is winning trust of brands, both new to TV and those that are well established.”
Since the release of the whitepaper Sky and Channel 4 have announced a new, broader, strategic partnership spanning content, technology and innovation. The multi-year deal builds on the industry-leading partnership announced by the two broadcasters last year and will further benefit both consumers and the broader industry.
For the first time, Channel 4 will use Sky’s ground-breaking AdSmart technology to deliver fully-targeted, addressable ads across its portfolio of linear channels (including UKTV and BT Sport) to both Sky and Virgin Media households. AdSmart allows brands to show different ads to different households watching the same programme, enabling advertisers to target campaigns based on thousands of combinations of demographic, location, interest and lifestyle attributes.
Alex Mahon, Chief Executive, Channel 4 said: “This landmark new partnership with Sky is a fantastic example of how broadcasters can work together to extend the reach of our content and innovate for the benefit of both viewers and advertisers. I’m particularly thrilled that we are extending our collaboration with Sky on Formula 1, which secures highlights of all races and live coverage of the British Grand Prix on free-to-air television.”
Stephen van Rooyen, CEO UK and Ireland, Sky said: “We’ve long thought that collaboration benefits both consumers and the industry – today’s news does exactly that. Together, Sky and Channel 4 will connect their viewers to more of the content they love, while bringing brands better ways to reach audiences. We look forward to working even more closely with Channel 4 and, we hope, other British broadcasters to bring more innovation and content to consumers over the coming years.”
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