Sky, ITV, and Channel 4 have joined forces to launch the UK TV industry’s first unified advertising metric across linear and video-on-demand.
CFlight was initially developed in the US by Sky’s fellow Comcast-owned broadcaster NBCUniversal in 2018. Sky then adapted the standards and methodology of the tool for the UK media market and began using it in 2019, before engaging in discussions with ITV and Channel 4 over a pan-broadcaster version.
The UK’s CFlight is a post-campaign online evaluation tool that enables overall reach and frequency of total TV to be measured in a bid to bring greater clarity to the impact of TV advertising investment.
“CFlight’s launch will be a pivotal moment for the TV ad industry, proving the power of TV advertising across linear and broadcaster VOD for the first time. The result of major collaboration, it will provide a pioneering, simple and much-needed new unified metric to demonstrate the significant, growing value of BVOD, and we’re excited for its continued evolution,” said Tim Pearson, MD of Sky Media UK; Veriça Djurdjevic, Channel 4’s Chief Revenue Officer; and Kelly Williams, Managing Director, Commercial at ITV, in a joint statement.
The tool combines Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) linear TV impact data with broadcaster video-on-demand impressions from broadcaster ad servers across platforms such as Sky Q, Sky+HD, ITV Hub, and All 4. Meanwhile, the data methodology and process will be audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
CFlight will cover any ads sold via Sky Media, ITV Media, and 4Sales. So, at launch, the broadcasters covered will include ITV, Channel 4, Sky, UKTV, STV, Channel 5, Discovery, Viacom, and the majority of Sky-sold channels. However, BT Sport, which moved from 4Sales to Sky Media last year, won’t be included until 2022.
