Sky announces additional £1.5 million support for SMEs to advertise on TV with AdSmart

Due to overwhelming interest in its AdSmart SME Support Scheme, Sky Media has announced it will provide an additional 150 businesses with targeted TV advertising support. The initial SME100 campaign now becomes SME250 as Sky Media invests a total of £2.5 million into the fund, bringing the total number of small businesses supported to 250. Each of the 250 businesses will receive £10k AdSmart campaign funding and full support on the creative process.

The initial 100 SMEs supported include companies up and down the country such as Sashed, Field & Flower, Care and Carers, Parent Pool, Love Writing and Dunnet Bay Distillers, all of which will receive additional complimentary support in creating their ads from Shutterstock.

David Sanderson, Director of AdSmart Local & Development at Sky Media said: “We received over 1,000 entries in just five days when we opened the scheme – so now we’re extending it.

“SMEs have a voracious appetite for targeted TV advertising at the moment. As lockdown eases more brands are returning to TV every day and advertising via AdSmart allows companies to reach their target audiences and help establish a new form of business confidence.

“SMEs are the engine of the UK – and AdSmart increases the horsepower.”

From some of our selected businesses:

The campaigns will be delivered via AdSmart from Sky, the market leading addressable TV platform, that easily enables brands to advertise on TV by focusing on the audiences that matter to them. This revolutionary technology means brands can reach audiences nationally based on household make-up or thousands of lifestyle attributes, or a range of regionality options including postcode area and a drive-time distance from store. In only targeting audiences that matter to the business, brands can be assured that their advertising will be relevant, accessible and drive business results.

AdSmart has transformed advertising for smaller and niche businesses. Previously TV was perceived to be too broad and expensive, but the award-winning targeting capabilities of AdSmart changes this. Since launching in 2014, it has been used by 2,380 brands for more than 28,000 campaigns to provide engaging, brand safe and relevant TV campaigns. With 75% of the brands using the technology totally new to TV, it’s allowing businesses to utilise the brand-safe and trusted power of TV for the first. In Sky Media’s recent research report, ‘AdSmart: Five Years & Forward’ it was revealed that addressable TV campaigns increase purchase intent by 7% overall, and as much as 20% for new to TV advertisers who benefit from the exposure and credibility TV delivers. Local brands like Gasway and Richardson’s Garden Centre have seen significant business growth (35% and 17% uplift respectively) through their TV campaigns.

The fund is available to SMEs that have been running for at least one year in the UK with up to 50 full time employees. The additional 150 business to the scheme will need to air their advertising campaigns by the end of July 2020. Businesses can nominate themselves or be put forward by their own customers.

Notes to editors

Original qualifying conditions:

• Business must have between 2 and 50 full time employees
• Businesses must have been established for a minimum of a year
• Businesses cannot replace money already booked/contracted with Sky Media
• Businesses need to be new to TV or haven’t been on air in 12 months
• Businesses must be prepared to produce a TV ad with assistance from Sky or locally approved agencies

The offer:

• Sky Media will gift a campaign value of £10k comprised of TV advertising using Adsmart that uses geo-demographic targeting across the 100+ AdSmart enabled channels
• The maximum length of the TV advert is 30 seconds
• The campaigns must be completed by 31^st July
• Sky Media will assist where required to provide the TVC. However, it may encourage businesses to use third party tools and services to complete its advert, including free access to Shutterstock stills and video assets for the first 100 participants.
• Shutterstock will offer the initial 100 businesses with complimentary access to content for use in the 30 second AdSmart TV ad only. Businesses can choose from Shutterstock’s collection of more than 330 million images, 18 million video clips and thousands of music tracks.

A selection of our first 100 winners:

About Sky Media
Sky Media is the advertising sales arm of Sky, offering businesses of all shapes and sizes an exciting array of opportunities on TV, online and on the go.

Reaching over 95% of the UK population, Sky Media represents all of Sky’s channels and sites including Sky Sports, Sky News, Sky One, Sky Cinema, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic and Sky Witness. Sky Media also sells on behalf of a range of renowned broadcasters and channels including; Channel 5, Discovery, National Geographic, HISTORY, MTV, FOX, Universal, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

Whether you’re new to TV or have been on the box before, there are numerous platforms and opportunities available for all budgets to reach the audience that matters to you most.

Media contacts
MWWPR
Tom Broughton / Leah Fullalove / Elentay Alcock skymedia@mww.com
0207 046 6080