In one of the most significant developments in the Irish TV advertising market in years, Virgin Media will roll out the first phase of its new AdSmart offering on the Sky platform from next Monday, November 9. The first phase will enable advertisers to immediately target a potential audience of more than 500,000 Sky households, with the addition of the Virgin Media platform in 2021 further extending the household reach potential.
AdSmart from Virgin Media is the first time the Sky technology has been adopted by another broadcaster outside of Comcast family. Sky’s addressable technology was launched in 2014 in the UK and in Ireland in 2017 – initially on the Sky platform but has since expanded to include Virgin Media homes as well in the UK. With this new deal it means advertisers will be able to buy AdSmart from Sky across Sky Media channels and AdSmart from Virgin Media across Virgin Media Television channels.
AdSmart enables different ads to be shown to households watching the same programme. This gives advertisers and brands the ability to tailor their campaigns to specific audiences and locations around Ireland, whilst guaranteeing their advertising will appear in a trusted, brand safe environment on Virgin Media’s channels.
This announcement is the latest development in the strategic cooperation between Virgin Media and Sky.
“Our partnership with Sky has reached a pivotal moment with the launch of ‘AdSmart from Virgin Media’. This game changing product couldn’t come at a better time, as trust and brand safety are further questioned. Brands will have the ability to discreetly target homes by location and lifestyle attributes, through the trusted environment of Virgin Media Television channels. Coupled with the Sky advertising portfolio, AdSmart will be accessible across almost 60% of commercial viewership in Ireland from November,” says Paula McCarthy, head of Virgin Media Solutions.
“Launching AdSmart in Ireland in 2017 has helped transform how businesses of all shapes and sizes can use TV to grow. At Sky we’re on a mission to grow addressable advertising to as many platforms and countries as possible, by collaborating with Virgin Media, Irish advertisers will have even more opportunities to reach their ideal audience in the engaging and brand safe world of TV,” adds Malcolm Murray, director of Ireland Sales, Sky Media.
