Virgin Media partners with Google Ireland to successfully diversify digital ads revenue

  • 14th September 2021: Virgin Media, Ireland’s number one commercial broadcaster, has successfully diversified its revenue streams across its streaming platforms through an innovative approach to its digital advertising developed with Google Ireland.
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  • With a goal to provide a bespoke market offering to advertisers, while ensuring a seamless experience for users, Virgin Media collaborated with Google Ireland to produce a first-of-its kind integration of Pause Ads for Google Ads Manager.
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  • The Pause Ads product means advertisements appear on screen when viewers pause the playout on their device. Using Google Ad Manager, advertisers can access this feature initially on desktop and expanding to all Virgin Media digital streaming platforms.
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  • The successful integration of Google Ad Manager not only ensures a viewing experience without interruptions, its rollout across the Virgin Media Player resulted in a 39% increase in monetizable digital ad space for the company.
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  • Ian Byrne, Director of Digital and Commercial Enterprises at Virgin Media Television, said: “The development of a Pause Ads integration with Google Ads Manager is a result of a creative collaboration across both teams to deliver new and innovative revenue opportunities for Virgin Media.
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  • “Alongside this, we were able to roll out its seamless integration to users which for us, was a core requirement when we embarked on this journey with Google. The technical and strategic support we have received from Google throughout this process has been exceptional and central to the success we have seen so far.”
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  • Parallel to the integration of Pause Ads, Virgin Media undertook a full scale ad migration to Google Ad Manager 360 in order to maximise the value of its commercial breaks. By working closely with its Google team, Virgin Media was able to use the platform to seamlessly leverage Google’s demand on its ad space in the best possible way both for the business and its customers.
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  • Kieran Greene, Strategic Partner Manager, Google Ireland, said: “We were delighted to partner with Virgin Media as they embarked on this journey to revolutionise their approach to digital advertising. This collaborative work, which resulted in the rollout of Pause Ads, in addition to the migration to our ad management platform, highlights how Google can enable businesses to seamlessly and effectively integrate innovative ad tools that drive revenue and guarantee viewer satisfaction.”