The Launch of the UK's freshest new streaming service, ITVX

Client: ITV

BACKGROUND

When you’ve sunk millions into researching and developing a new proposition you know will chime with your target market, you don’t want it to fall flat on launch day.

This was the situation for British broadcaster, ITV. We’d invested £165m into replacing our tired digital streaming proposition, ITV Hub. The result was ITVX – an exciting new ad-funded streaming service.

THE BIG IDEA

We aimed to super-serve existing viewers and attract new audiences by promising ‘More new shows for free than anywhere else’ and to be ‘The UK’s freshest streaming service’. (Marketing messages we knew from our research would resonate.)

MAKING IT HAPPEN To achieve cut through we launched a £45m, 360° integrated campaign. We chose to shake up traditional advertising for streaming services – eschewing content-focused adverts in favour of cheeky British humour (deploying comedy sketches using A-list talent), bold branding (an ‘X’ in a world of plusses) and decisive timing –launching to coincide with the 2022 World Cup (to which ITV had the broadcasting rights).

RESULTS

Despite entering a saturated marketplace, our campaign paid off. We: •Celebrated reaching 1bn streams just over four months post-launch (vs 2022, previously our most successful year, when it took nearly seven months). •Delivered a 49% increase in streaming hours and a 29% growth in digital revenue in the last quarter alone. •Attracted new viewers, 80% of whom went on to explore other content on ITVX. •Have overtaken All4 and Disney+ in terms of consideration and awareness scores (source: YouGov’s Brand Index).