Addressable TV lets you show your ad only to the households you want, on the big screen. Instead of buying everyone watching a channel, you buy a postcode, an age group, a household type.
The main options in the UK
- Sky AdSmart. Targets Sky and Virgin homes by location, life stage, income bracket and more. Different households watching the same programme see different ads.
- Broadcaster streaming. ITVX, Channel 4’s streaming service, My5 and the like. Ads run before and during programmes people stream, with targeting by audience data.
- Connected TV (CTV). Ads on smart TV platforms and apps, bought through programmatic platforms.
Why it matters for smaller advertisers
Addressable TV made TV possible for businesses that don’t need the whole country. A regional home improvement firm doesn’t want to pay for viewers outside its patch. With addressable, it doesn’t have to.
Minimum spends are far lower than a national linear campaign, so it’s a sensible way to test TV before committing bigger money.
The trade-offs
- Cost per viewer is higher. You’re paying for precision.
- Reach builds slower. For mass awareness, linear TV still wins on price.
- Same Clearcast rules. The ad still needs clearing, and it still needs to be made to TV standard. It’s on the same screen as everything else.
Linear or addressable?
If your customers are everywhere, linear gives you more for your money. If they’re in one region, or one tight group, start with addressable. Many campaigns run both: linear for scale, addressable to top up in the areas or audiences that matter most.
The ad is the same file either way, so one production covers both.