NBCUniversal and Sky take first step toward creating global premium video offering

NBCUniversal and Sky today announced the expansion of AdSmart, a global offering that will unify both companies’ advanced advertising capabilities. The new joint set of solutions within AdSmart brings together NBCUniversal's industry-leading Audience Studio advanced targeting solutions alongside Sky’s industry-leading addressable advertising tools.
 
This holistic offering will enable global brands and businesses to easily activate targeting and optimization solutions to reach customers in key international markets and measure results across NBCU and Sky’s extensive TV and digital portfolio. This unification of capabilities marks the first joint advertising initiative following Comcast's acquisition of Sky.
 
"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 Andrew Griffith, Group Chief Operating Officer, Sky. "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.” said 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.”
 
AdSmart's one-of-a-kind suite of solutions includes the following capabilities:

• Linear optimization - NBCU and Sky can each enable advertisers to optimize their linear spend against a rich selection of consumer segments, for enhanced delivery to target audiences through the unparalleled reach of national TV, leveraging Comcast set-top box data in the U.S. and Sky set-top box data in the U.K. for a total data set of more than 50 million households.
• Addressable television - NBCU and Sky can each enable advertisers to target precise consumer segments through addressable video, for ads delivered directly to target households through highly engaging long-form content.
• Digital targeting - NBCU and Sky can each enable advertisers to target precise consumer segments across digital platforms, for ads delivered directly to target users through premium online content.
• Contextual alignment - NBCU is piloting AI-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

About NBCUniversalNBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. To learn more visit: www.nbcuniversal.com

About Sky
With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever-improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service. We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers. We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.