ITV is set to begin dynamic online ad insertions within live broadcasts following the announcement of a partnership with YoSpace.
The technology will allow ITV to seamlessly place different ads, targeted directly at a subset of the viewing audience, within live broadcast programming watched on the ITV Hub – similar to Sky’s Adsmart offering but for online viewing only.
Sky released details of a similar deal with YoSpace for their SkyGo service in March. It continues ITV’s movement towards better, more relevant targeting and the further expansion of their online offering. It also means they can begin to monetise inventory that was being given away at no extra cost to current TV advertisers. Currently, the ITV Hub has over 11 million registered users and live programming is already around 30% of the total viewing for the Hub.
All Response Media Viewpoint
This deal will take time to bear fruit and at this time, it’s not clear on how this new feature will sit with other advertising currently available around Hub viewing. Additionally, to start with, any dynamic ad insertions will only make up a small proportion of the live content being watched. This will grow but will take time to do so.
From a direct response point of view, prices for any targeted activity using the new service will almost certainly be prohibitive due to cost. Depending on how live viewing increases and how much of the online schedules ITV will cover with this new approach, this is one to keep an eye on. But for now, the lack of clarity on how it will work with other advertising and the probable cost and size of the current proposition leads us to suggest holding off from diving in at this time.
