Sky & Virgin Media Ad Spend

According to Nielsen, Sky spent £70m on ads in the first six months of year compared to £37m from Virgin Media which includes its rebrand costs. In the same period last year, Sky spent £50m and NTL spent £16m. These amounts doen’t include online search and display spend. Also, it doesn’t specific how much of the amount is basically taking money out of one pocket and putting back in another with spending on own channel TV adverts and NewsCorp publications.

Nevertheless, the amounts involved will send shudders down the spines of all but the biggest communications companies: Sky has basically outspent even the mobile networks. There can’t be many people left in the country who don't know that you can buy the triple play “Speak, Surf, See” from Sky. Meanwhile, Virgin Media will also have gained a few brownie points with the army of Uma Thurman fans out there in the country.

As the broadband market moves into one of churn and attracting the non-geeks, brand becomes more and more important and there are few brands in the UK as strong as Sky.