ITV is back on the front foot with mobile hire

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 | By Alex Farber

As the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, ITV needs a strong mobile presence or risks missing out on both potential revenues and future-proofing its business.

In March its mobile division was caught up in wider cuts which saw 600 jobs lost and a range of services axed as the broadcaster focused on its core TV and ITV.com operations.

This week’s appointment is a clear sign ITV has recognised mobile must be re-introduced to capitalise on the integrated opportunities demanded by increasingly innovative advertisers.

Hicks is rightly keen to move beyond selling banners and buttons and offering well thought-out integrated deals to its wide range of big-spending TV advertisers.

As such, ITV also has an important role to play in educating brands about mobile, which will benefit the wider industry.

It’s a space Sky is working hard at cracking, generating around £60,000 a month from its mobile ad unit, led by Tim Hussain, who also holds a dedicated mobile role.

In this week’s new media age, Sky’s head of mobile Emma Lloyd spoke of her determination to bolster its mobile display business by integrating mobile TV with its targeted cross-media AdSmart platform, underlining its ambitions in the space

As video-on-demand grows, ITV should have equally lofty sights set on the opportunities surrounding its own popular content.

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