'It makes sense': Thinkbox on Vice Media's move into television with Sky
Television champion, Thinkbox has welcomed Vice Media's partnership with Sky which will see the the online news video service broadcast a dedicated channel to UK subscribers from later this year.
Sky is set to broadcast Viceland in the UK and Ireland from later this year, having launched the 24 hour channel in the US last month, and will be available to all basic package customers as well as through Now TV.
Speaking to The Drum, Lindsey Clay, chief executive of Thinkbox, commented: “This is a show of confidence in TV’s vitality. Vice is in the video business and TV is by far the most popular form of video for all age groups. TV these days isn’t just on the TV set, but people do continue to prefer to watch most of their TV on a TV channel broadcast to a TV set. It makes sense that Vice would want to be there. TV is a trusted video environment and they naturally want their content to reach the widest audience possible. Plus the EPG is the first port of call when people watch TV; it is a high street for channel brands.”
The partnership is not exclusive to Sky alone but will see viewers offered selected content 24-hours in advance of other channels, including on demand, while Sky Q customers will also be able to watch content from Vice's digital channel.
Alongside traditional advertising, native advertising is also understood to be a part of the channel's commercial model.
According to research released by Thinkbox, 76 per cent of the UK still tunes into television with the average viewer watching a total of three hours, 51 minutes of TV a day in 2015. Meanwhile, in the UK, YouTube has grown from 3.5 per cent in 2014 to 4.4 per cent in 2015.