Telenet, Proximus, Mediahuis and Pebble Media create joint ad sales house

Liberty Global-owned Belgian service provider Telenet and its content arm SBS, publishing group Mediahuis, national service provider Proximus and its Skynet brand, and digital ad-sales outfit Pebble Media are joining forces to create a national sales house. The partnership of local media players aims to provide advertisers with creative and efficient solutions to reach their customers, across media types and platforms, while a joint data offering will guarantee relevance and effectiveness of campaigns, according to the group.

The cross-media offer of the new outfit will consist of television, video, audio, print, online display, native and branded content, supplemented by smart data solutions, based on a broad range of complementary premium entertainment and news brand from national  TV channels through regional newspapers to international streaming services and social networks.

In addition to the online and offline advertising offer of Mediahuis and SBS, it is intended that the portfolio will also consist of the online advertising inventory of both Skynet and Pebble Media, implying that the new sales house will also commercialise the online VRT brands. The new sales house will include the advertising activities of the participant’s media brands.

For Telenet/SBS, this means TV channels Vier, Vijf, Zes, BBC First, Play Sports and Njam!

Mediahuis’ brands include newspapers De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad/De Gentenaar, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg, as well as ATV, TVL, TVO and ROBtv.

Pebble Media’s portfolion includes, among others: één.be, sporza.be, stubru.be, LinkedIn, Spotify, Snapchat and Aufeminin.com, while Skynet Advertising sells advertising for brands including, among others: Dailymotion, Verizon, Microsoft, Vroom, Autosalon and Voetbalkrant/Walfoot.

On a monthly basis, the group’s combined online reach will extend to more than 75% of all Flemish people and more than 25% of all French-speaking people in Belgium.

The new national sales house will be a joint venture between Mediahuis (44.4%), Telenet/SBS (44,4%) and Proximus/Skynet (11.2%), and shall be formed by the commercial teams of Mediahuis, SBS and Pebble Media. It is the intention of the new sales house to become operational at the beginning of 2021.