Astro Malaysia turns to Synamedia for region’s first addressable TV advertising service

Synamedia has announced a partnership with Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro) to launch the first addressable TV advertising service in South East Asia.

The partnership will allow advertisers to show different ads to different households while they are watching the same programme, based on data including location and demographics.

The tech will utilise Synamedia Iris’s unified addressable advertising platform to make it easy for Astro’s advertisers to reach the top 50% of Malaysian households across live, streaming and catch-up.

Addressable advertising will be available on the Astro GO streaming service in late 2021, followed by linear TV progressively on all set-top boxes through 2022.

Euan Smith, CEO of TV and Group COO, Astro, said: “Advertisers in Malaysia now have a scaled alternative to the prevailing dominant market model. And, for the first time, it will be viable for even local small businesses to access TV inventory, the most effective form of advertising.

“With a flexible and effective service, advertisers will have a data-driven targeting and measurement capability to boost ad performance and conversion rates without wasting impressions. Meanwhile, our customers will enjoy a more personalized and relevant user experience as they see ads that reflect their local community and demographics.”

Paul Segre, CEO, Synamedia, said: “TV advertising is now opening up to new audiences that can take advantage of Astro’s premium content, reach, rich customer data and reporting metrics. This first deployment of Synamedia Iris demonstrates Astro’s commitment to innovation and creative solutions as it monetizes its inventory and unlocks revenues.

“By deploying Synamedia Iris with its cloud native architecture, Astro is able to open up addressable advertising to its entire subscriber base, irrespective of the capabilities of each users’ devices and network availability.”