SBS has used its 2023 Upfront to underline its ongoing investment in digital aimed at retaining its position as the preferred Australian BVOD platform of both advertisers and audiences.
SBS used its 2023 Upfront event in Sydney today to highlight its digital transformation journey over the last five years outlining how the broadcaster has positioned SBS OnDemand uniquely to have a clear and differentiated offering, including with more than 15,000+ hours of content.
“SBS had a clear digital strategy from the outset for SBS On Demand and continues to over-index in the commercial BVOD market. It is a destination in its own right, and we have held our share of on-demand viewing with 26% of total on demand BVOD minutes,” said Adam Sadler, Director of Media Sales, SBS.
“This is an incredible result, driven by consistent and distinctive programming that defines SBS On Demand.”
Lee Callagher National Operations and Commercial Product Manager spoke about how the broadcaster’s investments in technology were ensuring SBS was delivering the strongest UX experience, but also had the right suite of partnerships to drive results for advertisers.
“We are immensely proud of the position which SBS OnDemand has carved out in Australian streaming space,” said Callagher. “We remain the highest rated streaming platform in the Apple Store – not just against BVOD platforms but also SVOD – and that comes from how we put our audience first through our unique, personal and targeted ad experience.
“SBS is unique in the BVOD space in offering a decluttered, tailored and targeted ad experience, which understands and caters to the needs of audiences.”
In 2022, SBS OnDemand passed 11 million registered users but Callagher argued that it wasn’t simply the size of a broadcaster’s data lake which mattered but also the number of monthly active users.
In 2022, SBS has rolled out a number of key partnerships with the implementation of Adobe Experience Platform as SBS’s customer data platform (CDP), a new partnership with Boltive, the launch of the ‘Solus Spot’ which aims to give a brand the exclusive access within an ad break and a shoppable advertising format, all aimed at giving the 1.7 million monthly active users of SBS OnDemand an uncluttered, seamless ad experience.
“We are very proud of the partnerships we have built out for SBS OnDemand,” said Callagher. “Our partnership with Boltive blocks obtrusive display ads and leaves more room for your message.
“Our users also receive a frictionless ad experience thanks to our implementation of SBS’s Server-Side Ad Insertion (Google DAI), which has increased customer satisfaction by a massive 80 per cent.
“We are innovating with ad product through Solus and Shoppable advertising products to drive a premium user experience. SBS enriches their platform by supporting the 5.5 million Australians that speak a language other than English to view their content and their ad breaks in their language of their choice. All of this is aimed at giving the best experience to both the consumer and the advertiser.”
Background on SBS’s new ad products and data partnerships
Solus advertising, giving a brand exclusive ad spot within an ad break
SBS On Demand and a brand can partner to bring audiences a shorter ad viewing experience on platform.
Viewers can enjoy less ads in a break, with a single bespoke mid-roll communicating the shorter ad break, thanks to the brand.
Pause advertising function allows brands to deliver relevant messaging when a program is paused
A non-disruptive, non-intrusive user-initiated display format.
The pause ad format allows brands to deliver relevant messaging to SBS audiences at the right time and place during a natural, user determined break in the storytelling.
Adobe Experience Platform as SBS Customer Data Platform (CDP)
The Adobe Experience Platform (Real-Time CDP) enables SBS to gain a more complete view of the OnDemand audience by bridging identities across devices and systems, allowing SBS to deliver impactful, personalised digital experiences in near real time.
The CDP holds a unified identity, in a privacy complaint environment, enabling a people-based view of our audience rather than a fragmented view of cookies and devices. The Adobe Real-Time CDP is a future proof technology platform capable of enabling a privacy-first, data-driven advertising ecosystem using first-party personally identifiable information (PII) data, that respects individual consumer choices.
Boltive partnership
Boltive provides the industry’s most comprehensive advertising quality solution as a countermeasure against malicious advertisements.
Boltive’s technology scans and blocks malicious ads to ensure that display creatives offered on the SBS Network are compliant and secure.
It protects SBS Audiences from malicious ads, redirect ads, and ads that do not comply by blocking on the client-side.
Boltive’ s technology aims to be our last line of defence to block display ads that are:
- Offensive (sensitive categories: Unsavoury content, violence, hate, controversy etc)
- Suspicious/malicious (Scams, fraud, malware etc)
- Heavy with pixel trackers (impacts page load speeds)
- Large creative file sizes (impacts page load speeds)
Kerv Interactive partnership for shoppable ads
SBS has partnered with Kerv Interactive – KERVTV Product
A non-intrusive, unique shoppable and dynamic interactive video ad experience linking BVOD to a user’s mobile device for a more connected experience.
Enables a call to action (QR code) for brands across CTV.