The event co-produced with Thinkbox will inspire advertising’s new generation of brand builders, and guests will be immersed in the evolving world of TV
London, 30 November 2017: 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 Big TV Festival will take place on 8-9 February 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. 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.
Jonathan Allan, Sales Director, Channel 4: “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. This festival will see UK broadcasters joining together with Thinkbox to showcase all of our creativity, tech innovation and effectiveness.”
Kelly Williams, Managing Director, Commercial, ITV: “We wanted to create a landmark event to blow people away with what TV can do and what’s coming next. There is a renewed spirit of collaboration in TV, embodied by this festival.”
John Litster, Managing Director, Sky Media: “The time is right for TV as an industry to be out there shouting about what makes our medium great. 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.”
Lindsey Clay, Chief Executive, Thinkbox: “The pendulum is swinging back to TV and it’s great to be putting on this festival. 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 campaigns – ‘Profit Ability: the business case for advertising’ – by Ebiquity and Gain Theory found that TV advertising is responsible for 71% of total advertising-generated profit at an average profit return on investment (ROI) over 3 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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Press contacts:
• Channel 4: Victoria Gillespie, 020 7306 8165, VGillespie@channel4.co.uk
• ITV: Laura Wootton, 020 715 73056, laura.wootton@itv.com
• Sky: Nick Lewis, 020 7032 6586, Nick.Lewis@sky.uk / MWWPR, 020 7046 6080, skymedia@mww.com
• Thinkbox: Simon Tunstill, 020 7630 2326, simon.tunstill@thinkbox.tv
About Channel 4
Channel 4 is a publicly-owned, commercially-funded, not-for-profit public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with over 300 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, Channel4.com and digital service All 4.
About ITV
ITV is an integrated producer broadcaster and the largest commercial television network in the UK. It is the home of popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, major sport, landmark factual series and independent news. It operates a family of channels including ITV, ITVBe, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air. ITV is also focused on delivering its programming via the ITV Hub, mobile devices, video on demand and third party platforms. ITV Studios is a global production business, creating and selling programmes and formats from offices in the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, the Nordics and the Netherlands. It is the largest and most successful commercial production company in the UK, the largest independent non-scripted indie in the US and ITV Studios Global Entertainment is a leading international distribution businesses.
About Sky
Sky is Europe's leading entertainment company, serving 22.5 million customers across seven countries - UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. The company has annual revenues of £12.9 billion and is Europe’s leading investor in television content with annual programming spend of over £6 billion.
Sky Media is the advertising sales arm of Sky, offering advertising solutions across on TV, online and on the go. Sky Media represents all Sky's channels and sites, and sells on behalf of a range of renowned broadcasters including Viacom (including Channel 5), Discovery Networks, FOX International Channels, NBC Universal, A+E Networks and Sony Pictures Television Networks. Sky Media lead the way in Advanced Advertising solutions through ground-breaking products like Sky AdSmart and Sky AdVance. Sky Media’s portfolio of channels reaches 50 million people in the UK every week.
About Thinkbox
Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, in all its forms. It works with the marketing community with a single ambition: to help advertisers get the best out of today’s TV.
Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV, who together represent over 99% of commercial TV advertising revenue through their owned and partner TV channels. Associate Members are Discovery Networks Norway, Disney, London Live, TAM Ireland, Think TV (Australia), thinktv (Canada), TVN Media (Poland), TV Globo (Brazil), TV2 (Norway) and Virgin Media. Discovery Networks UK & Ireland, and STV also give direct financial support.
TV has more to offer advertisers than ever before. In a cluttered media world, with new voices clamouring for advertisers’ attention, TV continues to stand out as proven, trusted and – most importantly – pre-eminently effective. From ensuring that the facts about TV are known (and myths challenged) to understanding how and why TV advertising works, explaining how TV is changing, showcasing innovative and affordable solutions and constantly providing the rigorous proof of effectiveness that advertisers need, Thinkbox is here to help businesses meet their marketing objectives.