Advanced Television

UK broadcasters launch The Big TV Festival

November 30, 2017

UK commercial broadcasters Channel 4, ITV and Sky are joining forces to launch The Big TV Festival, an unprecedented collaboration between the broadcasters.

Co-produced with Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, The Big TV Festival will take place on February 8-9 2018 in a bespoke set created in Blackwood Forest, Hampshire. It will feature some of advertising and media’s most influential, forward-thinking speakers as well as revealing what is around the corner for TV and its broadcasters.

The Festival will bring to life the power of TV for advertisers. It will explore why TV advertising has never been more essential for brand reach and awareness, underlining its status as the safest, highest quality and most trusted environment for marketing budgets. The event will showcase how TV today is data-rich and driving ad tech innovation, making it the leading medium to deliver sought-after audiences at scale and to transform brands into household names.

Media agencies and advertisers are being invited to nominate members of their teams to attend this exclusive two-day event and immerse themselves in the world of TV. Some 150 planners and marketers from across the UK’s media agencies and major advertisers will discover how TV is evolving and innovating to become even more effective for brands now and in the future.

The Festival will feature a mixture of inspiring sessions to take guests into the world of TV. Sessions will focus on key areas of TV: its shows, its audiences, and what it offers brands. Guests will hear from TV programme-makers about the craft of TV, the latest formats, and how hit TV shows are made, as well as hearing about the latest developments in TV advertising and the many new ways it can be used in the digital world. There will also be sessions on new thinking in marketing and leadership, as well as live entertainment. The line-up will be revealed in the new year.

“It’s extremely important for us as a TV industry to demonstrate to key decision makers within client and agency organisations how brilliant TV is,” commented Jonathan Allan, Sales Director, Channel 4. “This festival will see UK broadcasters joining together with Thinkbox to showcase all of our creativity, tech innovation and effectiveness.”

“We wanted to create a landmark event to blow people away with what TV can do and what’s coming next,” added Kelly Williams, Managing Director, Commercial, ITV. “There is a renewed spirit of collaboration in TV, embodied by this festival.”

“The time is right for TV as an industry to be out there shouting about what makes our medium great,” declared John Litster, Managing Director, Sky Media. “We’re the only platform that can offer the combination of massive reach, real engagement, complete brand safety and rich data.  This festival is about celebrating that story with some of the media industry’s rising stars, the brand builders of tomorrow.”

“The pendulum is swinging back to TV and it’s great to be putting on this festival,” said Lindsey Clay, Chief Executive, Thinkbox. “It will be two days of inspiration and entertainment surrounded by the incredibly talented people who make it happen.”

A recent independent analysis of over 2,000 advertising campaignsProfit Ability: the business case for advertising – by Ebiquity and Gain Theory, found that TV advertising is responsible for 71 per cent of total advertising-generated profit at an average profit return on investment (ROI) over three years of £4.20 for every pound spent, the highest ROI of any media. The study also found that TV is the ‘safest’ (lowest risk) advertising investment a business can make, with the highest likelihood of profit return in both the short and long term.

 

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