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By Jennifer Faull | Deputy Editor

April 21, 2014 | 3 min read

During the frenzy of Advertising Week Europe, Jon O'Donnell, commercial director at ESI Media, launched London Live – the city’s first 24-hour dedicated news and entertainment channel.

But making the move from publishing to TV was not an entirely smooth transition, with O’Donnell admitting that he “didn’t have a clue” about half the terminology of television and what he could do with advertising.

Not surprising given the broadcast and digital offering was pulled together in just 14 months.

“We had very little understanding beyond the general market knowledge of how to set up a TV channel […] but you realise your level of understanding of what’s possible becomes greater,” he told The Drum as he was driven to his Advertising Week Europe panel session in the back of our branded taxi cab.

“For us given our overarching media outfit we understand a lot more about how the print interacts with digital [and how that] can interact with television. From a commercial point of view it means we can provide a lot more compelling ideas for clients.”

As The Drum’s taxi neared Bafta Piccadilly, O’Donnell elaborated on why London Live is such a compelling offer to marketers looking to invest in content.

“If last year was the year of the mobile this is the year of content. Content is obviously the big thing at the moment and clients are spending a lot of money on content but not necessarily the most effective distribution channels. What we can do is give them much broader reach and give them an environment,” he said.

In addition to freedom from the Costa Code – the amount of on-air time a broadcaster can dedicate to advertising as laid out by Ofcom – the key attribute for London Live is that it sits alongside the Independent and London Evening Standard, meaning there is a huge opportunity for cross-promotion.

“When we were launching the channel we thought we could start a conversation in the Independent in the morning about a particular topic and grow it throughout the day on digital and social channels and then have a massive splash in the Evening Standard which would then culminate in a live TV debate in evening,” said O’Donnell, explaining that advertisers can be a part of that conversation from beginning to end.

The launch of London Live at Ad Week went without a glitch, with more viewers tuning in than for the launches of channels like Dave, BBC4 and ITV3.

To date, research published in the Evening Standard suggested that 1.4 million adults in the capital have watched the channel.

This is the latest in The Drum's #Hailthedrum interview series conducted during Advertising Week Europe.

The 'Hail The Drum' series was produced in partnership with Hailo and Media Agency Group. The wrap for the taxi was courtesy of Media Agency Group.

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