BSkyB and Virgin Media pour £92m into ad fight

by Nicola Clark, Marketing 31-Jul-07, 08:30

LONDON - Virgin Media and Sky have lavished an unprecedented £92m on advertising in five months, as the battle for subscribers in the pay-TV market intensifies.

Sky made up the lion's share and boosted its adspend by more than a third year on year; from 1 February this year to 30 June, it ploughed almost £60m into ad activity compared with £44m in the same period in 2006, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In contrast, Virgin Media spent £32m on promotional activity between February and June -- a little over half Sky's spend.

Sky's latest press campaign urges consumers 'Not to score an own goal with Virgin Media' in response to its rival's recent sports alliance with Setanta, which it is currently promoting. The two firms have also locked horns over the benefits of their respective broadband offerings.

Virgin Media claims that Sky has spent up to £500,000 a day on ads to discredit the Virgin Media package -- a figure that is disputed by Sky.

Cynics, however, claim that media owners -- particularly national newspapers -- are the real winners of the tit-for-tat press battle, which some believe has actually confused consumers.