Skip to main content

Future of Interactive Television Advertising

According to Informitv, at the third Interactive Television Advertising Show in London, Nick Milligan, the managing director of Sky Media, said that television is under threat and the 30 second advertising spot is under more pressure than ever before.

�I have experienced more change in our medium in the last four years than in the previous 25,� he said. �Who would have thought it extraordinary 10 years ago that we would have to defend the medium of television? Clearly it is the most powerful advertising medium.� All the main commercial broadcasters in the UK came together last year in an unprecedented way to create 'Thinkbox', an industry body to market and promote television advertising.

�It is critical that we find ways of enhancing the old interruptive model and interactive advertising is a wonderful way of enhancing advertising efficiency,� declared the man responsible for advertising, sponsorship and interactive advertising across a portfolio of channels on the Sky platform. �We are not interested in cornering the market in interactive advertising, no matter what people may have thought in the past about Sky�s ambitions. I genuinely welcome competition.�

Sky, which has been delivering interactive television adverts for over five years, is now looking to extend its range of interactive services. It currently limits its interactive spots to the last in break and says a large proportion of that inventory is sold. Sky needs to find new models if it is to grow the interactive advertising business.

Sky is looking to broadband and mobile to provide additional video advertising opportunities. The Sky by broadband service, which offers movies and sports clips for download over broadband at no cost to top tier subscribers, has now been equipped to serve adverts. The Sky by mobile service now has over 100,000 subscribers and has streamed over 12 million sessions in a matter of months since it launched.

Popular posts from this blog

Bold Broadband Policy: Yes We Can, America

Try to imagine this scenario, that General Motors and Ford were given exclusive franchises to build America's interstate highway system, and also all the highways that connect local communities. Now imagine that, based upon a financial crisis, these troubled companies decided to convert all "their" local arteries into toll-roads -- they then use incremental toll fees to severely limit all travel to and from small businesses. Why? This handicapping process reduced the need to invest in building better new roads, or repairing the dilapidated ones. But, wouldn't that short-sighted decision have a detrimental impact on the overall national economy? It's a moot point -- pure fantasy -- you say. The U.S. political leadership would never knowingly risk the nation's social and economic future on the financial viability of a restrictive duopoly. Or, would they? The 21st century Global Networked Economy travels across essential broadband infrastructure. The forced intr...