RTL and ITV strengthen advertising partnership

German and international broadcaster RTL and UK commercial broadcaster ITV are to strengthen and extend their advertising sales partnership, with Kelly Williams, ITV’s managing director of commercial, joining the board of RTL AdConnect, RTL’s international ad sales house.

Under the pair’s extended partnership, RTL AdConnect will represent ITV globally outside the UK and foster closer collaboration in advertising technology.

RTL AdConnect represents more than 400 broadcast and digital media partners, including ITV in the UK, Rai in Italy and Medialaan in North Belgium. The RTL ad outfit helps advertisers to promote their products and services internationally or to run a big, international campaign across Europe, according to RTL.

Williams, who joined ITV in 2011 as group commercial director before being promoted to the company’s management board in 2014, will join an eight-strong board at AdConnect.

“Faced with ever increasing competition from global tech giants, we are actively exploring deeper and new partnerships with other media companies across Europe. Combining the huge international reach of the leading broadcasters represented by RTL AdConnect and our ad-tech company SpotX, we aim to create a leading monetisation platform for video. This platform will be open for all broadcasters and publishers seeking an innovative, customer-friendly alternative to the global tech giants. I am delighted about the extended partnership with ITV and confident that Kelly William’s expertise and experience will benefit the expansion of RTL AdConnect,” said Bert Habets, CEO of RTL Group.

Williams said: “We are very pleased to continue and develop our partnership with RTL Adconnect to provide brands around the globe the opportunity to advertise with ITV. We have collaborated with fellow UK commercial broadcasters to highlight how TV is the most brand-safe, trusted and quality advertising environment and can extend that message to Europe through this partnership. From a personal point of view, I’m delighted to be joining the board and look forward to working with the RTL team at this exciting time for TV advertising.”