BT Sport first signing for Channel 4’s new digital ad venture

UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport has signed up as the first partner of commercial broadcaster Channel 4’s new digital advertising sales house, 4 Sales.

Channel 4 said the venture, which launched yesterday (Wednesday), will see it become the first UK broadcaster to offer third-party digital content publishers a full advertising sales service.

As the first partner of the new service, BT Sport’s digital advertising inventory will be exclusively sold through 4 Sales from this month.

Channel 4 hopes the new service will strengthen its own digital revenue growth, as well as its ability to compete with the likes of social media platform Facebook and internet company Google.

Channel 4 will seek partnerships with broadcaster on-demand platforms, news content publishers and multi-channel networks, with partners to receive access to the broadcaster’s first-party data.

Jonathan Lewis, Channel 4’s head of digital and partnership innovation, said: “Next year we will provide advertisers and agencies with a large scale one-stop-shop for quality digital content which is underpinned by Channel 4’s reputation as an advertiser-safe environment, leading ad tech innovation and our award-winning viewer data strategy.

“BT Sport has arguably one of the most demanded premium dynamic ad inventory in the market with its exclusive Uefa Champions League coverage, 42 Premier League games, the Emirates FA Cup, and Premiership and European rugby and we look forward to welcoming them and more partners on board in 2018.”