Programmatic TV advertising could be coming to the UK this year.
Programmatic ads are those that are automatically bought and placed by software rather than by humans.
The online ad company Videology pinpointed the UK as the country most well placed for programmatic TV advertising, ahead of the US, citing its good infrastructure, innovative platform operators and high number of internet connected TV devices.
The broadcasters Sky and Channel 4 have both announced they will be moving towards a more programmatic approach to advertising this year.
Sky is due to launch its Sky Advance service this month, which will allow advertisers to buy ad space on TV and online.
ITV has struck a similar deal by partnering up with RadiumOne, and Channel 4 has introduced a programmatic market to its online service All 4.
Channel 4 is also investigating the possibility of a real-time ad decisioning and ad break scheduling system and a spokesperson has said that it hopes this “automated ad allocation system” will be ready by the end of the year.
One challenge that programmatic TV advertising faces is a way to ensure that all ads comply with broadcast regulations. It would obviously be an undesirable scenario where an inappropriate advert is automatically selected and played on live TV in real-time.Â
