Fabulatte

Television advertising is no longer the exclusive domain of multinational brands with million-pound budgets. Targeted platforms like Sky AdSmart are bringing the power of the small screen to businesses of every size.

Remember when TV advertising meant spending a fortune to reach everyone watching Coronation Street, whether they cared about your product or not? Those days are gone. For years, television was the preserve of big brands with even bigger budgets. If you were a regional business or start-up, you watched from the sidelines while Coca-Cola and McDonald’s dominated the airwaves.

The game has shifted completely. Addressable advertising platforms like Sky AdSmart have turned television into something far more surgical. Now, Cornwall Brewery can target real ale drinkers within cycling distance of its taproom, while a Manchester fintech start-up zeroes in on young professionals across the North West. It’s a different world.

How addressable TV actually works

Here’s the clever bit: Traditional TV shows the same Fairy Liquid advert to everyone watching EastEnders at 7:30pm, regardless of whether they have kids, live alone, or haven’t washed up since 1987. Addressable TV flips this completely. Different households watching the exact same programme can see entirely different adverts tailored to their circumstances.

Picture this: during the same ad break, that high-end Italian restaurant targets households within a 20-minute drive who’ve previously bought premium groceries, while Asda reaches families focused on weekly shops under £100. Both adverts run simultaneously on the same programme.

Sky AdSmart achieves this by reaching over 40% of UK households across Sky and Virgin Media. They combine their own customer data with partnerships, including Experian, Dunnhumby (that’s Tesco Clubcard data), Boots, and Mastercard. The result? Household profiles detailed enough to determine whether you’re more likely to buy organic quinoa or fish fingers. The mechanics are straightforward. Adverts are preloaded onto Sky boxes and sit there waiting. When an “AdSmartable” slot appears during live programming, the system selects the most relevant advert for each household and serves it up. It’s simple, really.

Why targeting has become essential

British viewing habits have changed dramatically. Smart TVs are now in three-quarters of homes, and people are increasingly watching ad-supported versions of Netflix and ITVX. But here’s the thing: audiences have become ruthless. They’ll switch off or fast-forward through anything that feels irrelevant faster than you can say “but wait, there’s more.” This is where precise targeting becomes invaluable. AdSmart lets you narrow down by postcode, household makeup, shopping habits, life stage, and income. Want to reach empty nesters in the Home Counties? Young families in Glasgow? Urban professionals in Leeds? The tools exist to find them specifically.

Another advantage worth mentioning is that for an advert to be correctly viewed on AdSmart, people must watch 75% of it at normal speed, with no skipping or channel hopping. Compare that to Facebook, where three seconds of auto-play video counts as an impression. In terms of actual attention, it’s night and day.

Making TV accessible to everyone

The cost barrier has crumbled. You can launch an AdSmart campaign for £3,000, which puts TV advertising within reach of independent schools, local restaurants, and family businesses that could never justify a national campaign. About 70% of AdSmart’s clients are SMEs now. That’s remarkable when you think about it.

Major brands use it, too, just differently. McDonald’s wanted to promote its Signature Collection only in areas where restaurants could actually deliver the products. So, it geo-targeted households within 15 minutes of participating branches. The results? Brand awareness increased by 15%, and brand perception increased by 63%. That’s not bad for a bit of geographic precision.

The case studies keep rolling in. Deliveroo saw brand message recall jump 87%. Frankie & Benny’s doubled the likelihood of people trying their new menu items. KFC boosted agreement that their products “taste delicious” by 33% during a festive campaign. These aren’t marginal gains, they’re proper shifts in perception.

Why TV still trumps digital

The creative hurdle remains the biggest challenge for smaller businesses. You can knock together a Facebook ad in an afternoon, but TV still demands Clearcast approval and proper production values. The good news? You don’t need a Hollywood budget anymore. Plenty of production companies can repurpose existing video content or create effective TV spots for a few thousand pounds.

Here’s why it’s worth the effort: According to Sky’s research, TV remains five times more trusted than social media. Three-quarters of TV ads are watched on big screens, often with multiple people in the room. Digital struggles to replicate that communal viewing experience.

Digital advertising operates in an increasingly noisy environment. Everyone’s scrolling, multitasking, and half-paying attention. TV still commands focus in a rare way. When you combine that attention with digital-level targeting precision, you have something powerful. The transformation from mass-market megaphone to precision instrument represents one of the biggest shifts in British advertising. Addressable TV offers something genuinely different for businesses wanting to reach specific audiences without blowing their entire marketing budget.

Sky AdSmart and similar platforms have democratised access to what many still consider the most effective advertising medium. The future isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room anymore. It’s about being the most relevant one.

Not sure where to start? Let’s talk.

Fabulatte can help you reach the right audience on the right platforms with the message that matters.