Sky launched Interactive Advertising in March 2000 as the first place to run interactive TV ads in the UK and, in fact, the UK still leads the world in this field. Interactive advertising enables advertisers to initiate a deeper dialogue with their core audiences and make their traditional TV or Sponsorship work harder. It can deliver against a number of different campaign objectives whether that be enhancing a brand, extending a TV ad, giving more information, impulse led purchasing, adding a simple direct response mechanism, building a database, market research etc.

Interactive advertising only allows for a direct response from the audience interacting with it by pressing the red button on their remote control. Sky sell the range of interactive products to suit a range of different campaign objectives whether purely generating warm sales responses or giving viewers a much deeper level of 'opt in' information or engaging long form video content. We can enhance TV Sponsorship by adding an interactive element, meaning that at least the first level of interaction must be programme related, thereafter advertisers can have their own info.

We have a range of products to suit all budgets and objectives from Impulse Response, Brand Response - Mini DALs (DAL stands for Dedicated Advertiser Location) templated interactive sites and Extended Video - VALs (Video Advertiser Location), to Bespoke Branding (bespoke DALs, built to your design) and Enhanced TV Sponsorship (interactivity planned to sit behind the red button, the broadcast sponsor can extend this relationship to get a deeper involvement with the programme and add an interactive page of their own).

NHS, Virgin Trains, Dulux, Budweiser and Warbutons to name but a few, have all used the red button in the past for their advertising campaigns with positive effect.

From Sky Media's quantitative research the benefits are the response rates, reach and sales. From Sky Media's qualitative research the benefits are 1) Usability Call-to-action, continuity, creative message and ease of navigation can be tested using iBurbia focus groups, Costs around £4,500. 2) Effectiveness Continental Research can carry out telephone research, typically interviewing groups of 100 interactors, 100 ad viewers & 100 people who didn't see the TV ad to measure differences in brand and ad awareness, brand perception & propensity to purchase.