ITV is launching its own addressable advertising platform to give advertisers “complete control” over the buying of campaigns across the broadcaster’s VOD service, ITV Hub.
Ad tech company Amobee will build the fully programmatic platform in an exclusive UK and Ireland licensing agreement.
According to ITV, advertisers will now have “the best of both worlds” – mass simultaneous reach across linear channels alongside data-driven addressable advertising on the Hub – which will maximise the broadcaster’s commercial return.
“This agreement enables ITV to respond to our customers’ needs of frictionless targeted advertising in a brand safe environment complementing what they currently do on our channels,” said ITV CEO Carolyn McCall.
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“It accelerates the strategic development of our VOD advertising capabilities and provides a technology platform that will enable ITV to create an industry standard for VOD to match the established system for linear advertising.”
Kelly Williams, managing director, commercial, added that ITV will be looking to invite other broadcasters to join the platform as it rolls out.
At Mediatel’s Future TV Advertising Forum last year, during the first ever panel to feature all three CEO’s of ITV, Sky and Channel 4, McCall told the audience that ITV had been discussing targeted advertising for a long time.
Rejecting the possibility of using Sky’s Adsmart technology as it would not make “strategic sense”, she confirmed that ITV would be putting together its own adtech stack so it could be more “client responsive” and creative.
ITV claims that the Hub has over 28 million subscribers, with over 79% of all 16-34 year olds in the country registered on the service, and saw a 32% increase in viewing in the past year with over 446 million hours of online viewing.
