Sky Media promotes Jamie West to AdSmart role

In his new role West will assume responsibility for the commercial development of Sky’s tailored ad product, which is already available on Sky’s online player and is due to be added to Sky+HD set-top boxes next year.

The AdSmart technology uses information provided by Sky customers to replace broadcast ads with ads that are likely to be of more relevance to them.

West will be charged with maximising the impact of ads across Sky’s products and services; including Sky Go, Sky’s TV product for computers, smartphones and mobile devices, and Sky Anytime+, Sky’s expanded video on-demand service.

At Sky Media as head of futures from February 2010, West was already responsible for driving the sales of all non-spot revenues including sponsorship, text, video-on-demand, creative solution and emerging technologies.

West’s previous roles include vice president of investment and enterprise at MTV Networks, head of sales at Channel 5, advertising and sponsorship sales director at Switch2. He started his career at NBC Universal in 1997.

Nick Milligan, managing director at Sky Media, said: "Thanks to Sky’s commitment to multi-platform innovation, we have a huge number of opportunities for advertisers looking to engage with viewers in fresh and exciting ways.

"With Sky AdSmart’s tailored advertising service round the corner too, there’s a lot to talk about."

Sky’s rival Virgin Media is set to unveil an addressable advertising service in the second quarter of this year and it will allow advertisers to target individual households across Virgin Media’s 3.8 million customer base.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk