NBCUniversal, Sky expand combined AdSmart solution
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 18 March 2019

In what the media firms say is a first step toward creating a global premium video offering that will unify both companies’ advanced advertising capabilities, NBCUniversal and Sky have expanded the AdSmart suite of solutions.

The new set of solutions within AdSmart brings together NBCUniversal's Audience Studio advanced targeting solutions alongside Sky’s addressable advertising tools. The new offering is also designed to enable global brands and businesses to easily activate targeting and optimisation solutions to reach customers in key international markets and measure results across NBCU and Sky’s TV and digital portfolio.

This unification of capabilities also marks the first joint advertising initiative following Comcast's acquisition of Sky. The suite of solutions includes Linear optimisation so that NBCU and Sky can each enable advertisers to optimise their linear spend against a rich selection of consumer segments for enhanced delivery to target audiences through the reach of national TV, using Comcast set-top box data in the US and Sky set-top box data in the UK for a total data set of more than 50 million households.

NBCU and Sky can also each enable advertisers to target precise consumer segments through addressable video for ads delivered directly to target households through highly engaging long-form content. NBCU is also piloting artificial intelligence-powered contextual media planning for TV, aligning brand messaging with highly relevant scenes across national programming to enhance ad effectiveness and give consumers a more organic viewing experience.

“Over the years, Sky has built a suite of advanced advertising tools, and we’re excited to share them with international marketers in the United States,” said group chief operating officer Andrew Griffith. “Together with NBCUniversal we’re launching a global product unlike anything the market has seen before, that combines the quality and reach of TV with best-in-class addressability.”

“The world is getting smaller, and the opportunity for international marketers to make an impact with consumers is getting bigger. The industry has demanded a global premium video offering, and now, one will finally exist,” added Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal. “NBCUniversal and Sky are committed to setting the highest possible standards and transforming the ad experience. Bringing our advanced advertising solutions under one global structure is the first step in our journey.”