Channel 4 today announced the launch of a digital ad sales house that will see it become the first UK broadcaster to offer third party digital content publishers a full ad sales service. Channel 4 will seek partnerships with broadcaster on-demand platforms, news content publishers and multi-channel networks giving them access to its unique first-party data and clout as the leading commercial broadcaster for digital sales.

By expanding its third party ad sales representation into the digital market Channel 4 will strengthen its own digital revenue growth and ability to compete with global media companies such as Facebook and Google – benefits which will be extended to its third party publisher partners.

BT Sport is Channel 4’s first digital ad sales partner. The broadcaster’s dynamic advertising inventory will be exclusively sold through 4 Sales from January 2018.

The new digital sales house proposal enhances the range and scale of premium digital inventory available to advertisers exclusively through 4 Sales – in turn Channel 4 extends its pioneering ad technology from Freewheel including Dynamic Ad Insertion of live events, and its distinctive first-party data strategy including bespoke data matching models to enrich ad targeting solutions for partner publishers and advertisers.