UK broadcasters have joined Universal Ads for the first time, with several touting it as a new platform allowing small brands to reach premium TV.
Channel 4, ITV, Sky and Comcast have launched a new self-service platform for ‘premium’ TV advertising in the UK.
Universal Ads is pitched as ‘as simple as social’, promising SMEs no minimum spend, access to over 35m UK households and less than 24 hours from sign-up to the ad appearing. Brands can buy ads with a credit card in minutes, mimicking the convenience of Google Ads or Meta.
Channel 4’s chief commercial officer, Rak Patel, said that this lowering of the barriers to premium media will be a ‘gamechanger’ for small brands, praising the collaboration and simplicity of the new service. He added that it will ‘help ensure premium TV remains innovative and competitive alongside global social and digital platforms’.
Universal Ads could offer traditional TV stations an opportunity to compete with social platforms for advertising spend by offering more flexible terms for smaller brands. Kelly Williams, managing director of commercial for ITV, described it as a ‘future-proofing’ measure which would ‘deliver real value for small-to-medium advertisers’.
Interestingly, some platforms appear to be pitching the service as a standalone alternative more than a continuation of Comcast’s existing services. Channel 4’s release stated: ‘Channel 4 is launching a new self-service platform for premium TV advertising alongside ITV, Sky and Comcast’. This could be an indication that Universal Ads is planned to provide an alternative not just to the walled gardens of Google Ads and Meta, but also to the growing strength of Netflix and Disney+ as they continue to aggressively pursue advertising spend.
The level of collaboration between Channel 4, ITV and Sky is unprecedented, indeed this is the first time ITVX audiences can be bought programmatically outside of ITV’s own platform, Planet V. The show of unity from these competitors shows a real push to achieve that ‘future-proof’ system for traditional broadcasters, though how much the lower barrier to entry will change the face of TV advertising remains to be seen.
