Sky Deutschland to push ad income

[khurramdar]

Sky Deutschland to push ad income     
Written by Jörn Krieger  
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 10:39

German pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland has its eyes set on new revenue sources. Brian Sullivan, who will take over the CEO post on 1 April, apparently doesn’t want the broadcaster to almost completely rely on subscription income any longer.

With sister company BSkyB in the UK as the role model, the plan is for advertising income to be doubled to a share of 10% of total income in the medium term, reports German financial newspaper Handelsblatt, quoting corporate sources. To reach the goal, Sky wants to more intensely use its website as an advertising platform.

“We will turn our internet offer into an entertainment portal,” Carsten Schmidt, chief officer sports, advertising sales & internet, told the paper. Therefore Sky wants to expand its sports-based video content on the internet, for example with more footage from soccer Bundesliga and Champions League.

To be ready for the offensive, Premium Media Solutions, which sells the advertising slots available at Sky, recently strengthened its management by taking Andrea Malgara onboard, the former marketing head of TV group ProSiebenSat.1.

However, to prevent losing its unique appeal in the competition with free-to-air television, Sky will maintain its policy of not putting advertising breaks into movies, instead using the time between movies and other programmes more persistently for commercials.

© Rapid TV News 2010