beIN has started a new addressable broadcast advertising service using Synamedia’s Iris platform and will be able to create new, targeted advertising inventory at a country level.
Independent global sports & entertainment network beIN MEDIA GROUP distributes and produces entertainment, live sport and major international events across 40 countries in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) regions. The group operates the sports network beIN SPORTS and MIRAMAX film studio and is a growing force in series and movie production and distribution. In the digital space, beIN MEDIA GROUP acquired pay-tv operator Digiturk in 2016, and launched the OTT service TOD across MENA and Türkiye in 2022.
beIN has now started a new addressable broadcast advertising service, a type that is unusual in MENA. beIN will be among the first broadcasters in the region to open inventory to advertise products and services to specific, local audiences, for local advertisers as well as global brands. Distribution will occur alongside beIN’s sports and entertainment line-up.
Wider Reach, Optimised Targeting
Deciding to use Synamedia’s Iris addressable advertising platform to launch the project, beIN will be able to create new, targeted advertising inventory at a country level. Initially available in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Lebanon, with other markets available later this year, beIN plans to extend its use of Synamedia Iris to its streaming services in 2025.
This will mean that advertisers will be able to deliver unified campaigns across both broadcast and digital inventory. With Synamedia Iris, beIN will be able to manage all of the campaigns, inventory, audiences and assets from a single platform, ensuring consistency in targeting, delivery and reporting.
Furthermore, instead of delivering the same adverts across all 24 MENA countries it offers services to, beIN will use Synamedia Iris to expand its advertising services to target campaigns to specific countries and, subsequently, to targeted demographics and households.
Available as software-as-a-service (SaaS), Synamedia Iris is a complete, unified platform with tools for managing, delivering and measuring advertising consistently across all devices, services and screens. Synamedia Iris will enable targeted advertising across the entire beIN subscriber base, which in their case includes satellite set-top boxes (STBs) without an internet connection, devices that other Connected TV advertising systems may miss.
Controlling Campaigns
Advertisers and media buyers can use the Synamedia Iris platform to control campaigns across different screens and modes of viewing. It can also be used for both programmatic advertising, relying on data and algorithms to automate ad delivery according to context, and direct-sold demand advertising, when inventory is guaranteed to be delivered at a set point and fixed price.
Users also receive campaign reports to use when forecasting performance to optimise targeting. As the infrastructure is cloud-based, users are able to adjust campaign parameters on-the-fly to optimise performance and reach goals more efficiently. All these activities are based on consistent measurement.
Regarding server-side ad insertion, Iris will work with most ad servers, CDNs and client players, and can be integrated using Synamedia’s standard APIs on a DASH or HLS streaming client. It handles live and VOD spot or break ad insertion on streaming devices without buffering or black screens, with low-latency, high availability workflows that preserve the viewing experience. A just-in-time transcoding cloud service is also available to make sure the correct bitrates and formats are used.
Compelling Proposition
“We chose to partner with Synamedia because its addressable advertising has had a positive effect on ad revenues elsewhere in the world," said Bahadir Karalar, Director of Sales and Services at beIN. With their advertising tools and our premium sports and entertainment content, we are confident of a compelling proposition that will attract both global brands and home-grown organisations to invest in this new form of targeted advertising, which delivers a high, effective viewership.”
Guy Southam, Director of Advanced Advertising at Synamedia said, “beIN’s deployment of Synamedia Iris is set to change the perception that advertising on TV in MENA is too broad to drive effective outcomes for local businesses. Using Iris, beIN can now make a customised option available to new and existing advertisers, positioning global and local brands alongside great sporting moments.” www.synamedia.com
