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Comcast's Sky signs up Channel 4 to its targeted advertising service

Comcast Corp. unit Sky Ltd is expanding its partnership with U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4 TV to include advertising and increased content sharing.

As part of the multiyear deal, Channel 4 will use Sky's AdSmart targeted ad service on its live TV channels. This will allow it to show different ads to different pay TV households watching via Sky and fellow AdSmart client Virgin Media.

These adverts can be fine-tuned based on demographic, location, and lifestyle data.

Sky claims it has delivered 17,000 ad campaigns for over 1,800 advertisers since AdSmart's launch five years ago. The majority of these customers are small-to-medium-sized companies, the pay TV provider told S&P Market Intelligence recently.

Since signing up Virgin Media in July, AdSmart can reach 40% of U.K. households and around 30 million individuals. Sky's parent Comcast is also increasingly integrating the service with the ad tech used by its U.S.-based unit NBCUniversal LLC.

Channel 4, meanwhile, announced its own ad targeting platform for video-on-demand, or VOD, content in January.

The two broadcasters are also building on existing content deals to share more programming. As a result, Sky and its VOD service Now TV will get access to Channel 4's upfront shows, which are available online as box sets before they reach live TV. The partnership will also give Sky access to exclusive programming from Channel 4's VOD service All 4.

In addition, Formula 1 (F1) highlights and live coverage of the British Grand Prix will continue to be broadcast on Channel 4. Earlier this year, the two teamed up to show the Cricket World Cup (CWC) final on Channel 4's free-to-air channels. Sky holds the exclusive broadcasting rights to both F1 and the CWC tournament.

Sky's Stephen van Rooyen, CEO U.K. and Ireland, suggested the pay TV company is looking to strike similar deals with other broadcasters. "We look forward to working even more closely with Channel 4 and, we hope, other British broadcasters to bring more innovation and content to consumers over the coming years," he said.