ITV and Virgin Media O2 agree five-year integration partnership
ITV and Virgin Media O2 have signed a new multi-year agreement that includes a full integration of the ITV Hub platform onto Virgin TV set-top boxes.
A range of new features including programme start over and cloud recording will also be introduced for some Virgin TV customers in future.
This full integration of the ITV Hub platform will bring benefits to advertisers through Planet V, ITV’s programmatic addressable advertising platform.
Planet V allows both advertisers and agencies control over the planning, purchasing and reporting of their campaigns on ITV Hub, building audiences with first party data and augmenting those audiences with advertisers’ own data.
Looking ahead, ITV’s live channels and the ITV Hub will also be available through Virgin TV’s upcoming IPTV service when it fully launches in early 2022.
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, said: “This extended and enhanced commercial agreement brings benefits to both ITV’s viewers and advertisers and the work that Virgin Media O2 is doing to develop its IP proposition advantages both those groups.”
Lutz Schüler, chief executive of Virgin Media O2, said that this partnership “further cements” the relationship with ITV, and stated: “Our focus in TV is all about providing incredible entertainment to our customers in a seamless way underpinned by the very best connectivity. As we continue to invest and innovate, having ITV’s vast selection of must-watch programming fully integrated and easily accessible plays a huge part in giving our customers a fantastic experience both now and in the future.”