It’s important to know you’re reaching real people, not just general data like email logins or IP addresses. AdSmart from Sky uses verified household information based on its direct billing relationships with subscribers, so you can trust that your ads are reaching genuine viewers.

By linking IP addresses to household addresses, we can help measure the effectiveness of your campaigns more accurately. As a broadband provider, Sky can identify IP addresses and track activities like page views or items added to a shopping basket. This information is then matched to the ads shown at the household level, allowing us to better understand how your campaign is influencing web traffic and online engagement. This approach provides a clearer picture of your campaign’s impact, helping ensure your marketing efforts are reaching the right audience and delivering meaningful results.

AdSmart uses advanced technology that allows specific ads to be shown to different households, whether they’re watching live TV or on-demand content. This means two households watching the same show can see entirely different ads tailored to their profiles. Not all platforms offer this level of precision, but AdSmart ensures your ads are relevant to the audience, reducing wasted impressions and making your campaign more effective.

With targeted TV advertising, your ads can run during live TV broadcasts and be tailored to specific households. AdSmart enables this precision by working across over 127 channels, including Sky Glass, Sky Q, Sky Stream, HD set-top boxes, and Virgin.

Here’s how it works:

1. Define your audience: Every AdSmart campaign begins by selecting from a range of targeting options, like location, interests or household demographics.
2. Household matching: Each household has a unique profile based on these same targeting attributes.
3. Ad delivery: When a household’s profile matches your campaign’s audience, they are eligible to see your ad while watching TV.

As long as their Sky box is on and they haven’t opted out of tailored ads, the system delivers your message directly to the right households, making every impression count.

Aligning your brand with trusted, award-winning content can boost viewer engagement and strengthen your brand’s credibility. AdSmart offers access to Sky’s diverse portfolio of high-quality content, including Sky Originals, BAFTA-nominated shows and TV and films from HBO, Showtime, Channel 5, and TNT Sports.

Sky’s achievements speak for themselves, with 33 BAFTA nominations and 5 wins in 2024 alone, showcasing the breadth and quality of our programming. Ads run across over 175 live TV channels, each with a loyal following. For example, Sky News has been named News Channel of the Year for seven years in a row, and Sky Sports Main Event won Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards.

A larger viewing panel means more reliable insights and better data for your campaigns. AdSmart uses a vast panel of 4 million Sky households, giving us the ability to accurately track viewer behaviour and measure the effectiveness of ads across different demographics. This panel is representative of the entire Sky TV customer base, providing a broader, more detailed picture than other platforms.

Viewing data is collected on a second-by-second basis across all commercial channels, including ITV and Channel 4, and is processed independently to ensure impartiality. With a panel 750 times larger than the standard BARB viewing panel, AdSmart offers unmatched precision in targeting and campaign performance analysis.

Combining first-party and third-party data enhances the accuracy and relevance of your targeting. First-party data comes from your own customers, offering valuable insights into their behaviour, while third-party data adds additional details like demographics, lifestyle, and interests.

Sky uses both types of data to improve targeting. We collect first-party data from our own customer base, including addresses, usage across Sky apps, websites and TV viewing habits. This is paired with third-party data from trusted partners like Regit, Captify, MasterCard, Experian, and CACI, covering factors like car ownership, shopping habits and home-move status. By combining these datasets, AdSmart enables brands to target households with unmatched precision and relevance, ensuring your message reaches the right people at the right time.

Sky Media, which includes AdSmart, captures over 20% of the UK’s commercial TV viewing share, making it one of the largest in the market. With a reach of 38.2% of UK adults (September 2022 to October 2023), Sky Media provides advertisers with broad exposure across Sky’s own channels and trusted media partners, like Channel 5. This extensive share of commercial TV viewing ensures that businesses using AdSmart can benefit from connecting with a wide range of potential customers across trusted, well-loved channels.

Self-serve options empower businesses to take full control of their campaigns directly. AdSmart’s Sky AdManager allows brands to set budgets, choose target audiences and access detailed projections, offering flexibility for tailored campaign planning.

Interactive ads engage audiences beyond the standard viewing experience. With AdSmart, there are various ways to deliver interactive ads on the TV screen. We’re currently testing our first Voice Ads campaigns, powered by Sky’s voice technology and interactive TV interface. This trial offers businesses a more personalised and interactive way to engage viewers. Using voice commands on their Sky remotes, Sky Q, Glass and Stream customers can explore branded content, accessing deeper product information and long-form videos – creating opportunities for deeper engagement and more informed purchasing decisions.

You can also optimise your existing brand messaging with a tailored landing page, driving specific online action. QR code can be used to great effect here, directing different pockets of audiences to online environments most relevant to them.

By asking these essential questions, you can better assess the capabilities of TV advertising platforms and choose the one that best aligns with your business goals. Targeted TV advertising provides an opportunity to deliver impactful campaigns that resonate with your audience on a personal level.

Ready to build your TV campaign or learn more about how Sky’s AdSmart technology can benefit your business? Get in touch below to start the conversation.