Omnicom and Sky Media Announce ‘Sports Surge’, Putting Brands at the Heart of the Action
First-to-market capability powered by The Trade Desk enables marketers to activate live sporting events programmatically and capitalise on high-attention moments across Sky Media’s leading sports portfolio
Announcement kicks off Day 1 of Omnicom Media Group’s Cannes series, unveiling ‘Sports Surge’ – a first-mover partnership unlocking the power of live content and conversation to drive brand growth
WHAT:
Omnicom Media Group and Sky Media have partnered to launch ‘Sports Surge’ – a new way for brands to tap into high-attention moments during live sports. This new programmatic innovation helps advertisers effectively engage audiences in the moment, around high-profile, shared sporting cultural moments.
Omnicom Media Group is the first holding company to programmatically activate Sky’s live sports inventory through a biddable private marketplace, powered by The Trade Desk. Delivered across Sky Go’s streaming platform, the partnership will initially activate by sport but will evolve to target key in-match moments—when both viewership and attention naturally spike.
‘Sports Surge’ will enable quick-turnaround activations during pivotal live moments – such as tie-breaks, extra time, play-offs, penalties, winning shots, controversial referee decisions or injuries. Omnicom clients will be able to activate campaigns that dynamically respond to these moments, tapping into heightened demand and social buzz as people tune in.
Brands can respond in real-time with contextually relevant messaging—delivered in content proven to drive greater receptivity and recall.
This new capability mirrors a similar partnership announced earlier today between Disney and OMG in the U.S., highlighting a shared global vision for the future of live event advertising.
WHY:
In today’s on-demand media landscape, live sports remain one of the few truly high-reach, high-engagement viewing environments – and Sky Sports is the UK’s #1 destination for sports.
In the last six months of 2024 alone, fans watched nearly 950 million hours of sport on Sky, with over two-thirds tuning in live.
Live sports viewing continues to grow in the UK – Sky Sports recently had its largest ever day of viewing (7.5m) culminating in Rory McIlroy’s historic victory. The majority of ad spend still flows through linear advertising models but with the rise of streamed viewing alongside more advanced programmatic tools and audience targeting, brands can now capitalise on attention spikes. This presents an exciting opportunity for brands to connect with their highly engaged audiences in the moments that matter most —wherever and however they choose to watch their sport. This is part of Sky’s strategy to simplify the buying process – opening-up live sport to more brands, delivering the premium TV environment with the ease of digital buying and analytics.
HOW:
Omnicom will use real-time game signals and in-match triggers to initiate campaigns during high-attention moments.
Using programmatic technology with The Trade Desk, Omnicom can deliver pre-roll impressions into live-streamed sports content at the exact moment a viewer tunes in. This allows brands to connect with audiences during highly engaging and talked-about moments—the kind only live sport can deliver.
By leveraging new metadata signals and advanced audience targeting capabilities, buyers can reach customers during the most impactful points in a broadcast—maximizing effectiveness and relevance.
Looking ahead, predictive analytics will help estimate potential viewership and scale for upcoming events, enabling more strategic budget planning and better campaign outcomes.
As scale increases, suitable measurement methodologies will be applied to assess the value of live sports—tracking performance through metrics like incrementality, attention, and brand recall.
WHEN:
Sky Sports’ live-streamed inventory on Sky Go is already available to buy programmatically. The full advanced capability—featuring moment-based activation—is expected to go live with the launch of the 2025–2026 Premier League season, and available exclusively to OMG clients for the remainder of 2025.
SCALE:
United Kingdom and Ireland
Dan Cohen, Director of Transformation and Strategic Programmes, Sky Media: “There’s no higher attention moment than the drama of live sport, and we want to help advertisers tap into that in real time with Sports Surge. We’re starting with content signals to create the right context for brands, building toward a ‘surge viewing’ product for the new football season. This is a unique activation with TTD and OMG. It builds on Sky Media’s move to make exclusive live sports inventory available through biddable technology via TTD earlier this year and the launch of our dedicated Sports Marketplace. This exciting proposition lets brands make in-the-moment, intelligent decisions—targeting the right customers precisely when attention peaks and fans are drawn into the heart of the action.”
Phil Duffield, VP UK, The Trade Desk: “We’re excited to partner with Omnicom and Sky to bring real-time agility and precision to live sports advertising. Dynamic pacing of ad placements, tied to on-screen moments like a goal, extra time, or penalty—means brands can instantly activate and adapt campaigns to align with peak viewer attention. When the action intensifies, so does the advertising impact. As live sports viewing rapidly shifts to connected TV, brands have a golden opportunity to optimise budgets and deliver high-impact messaging at the most thrilling moments.”
Ben Brown, Head of Media & Channel Activation at National Lottery operator Allwyn: “This innovative approach from Omnicom, enables us to further elevate how we can advertise in live sports. It also adds another way for us to connect with our audience at the precise moment they are most passionate and engaged with high-quality broadcast content. By leveraging data driven-insights, we can deliver tailored messages and advertising solutions that resonate with our audiences in real time as part of our Lotto activation.”
Jean-Guilhem Calvet, Media Lead, PepsiCo: “At PepsiCo, we’re excited to test new capabilities which can unlock learnings for future planning. Using programmatic technology to target live sports inventory gives us the platform to reach our audiences in real-time during moments of passion and high attention, within a premium environment.”
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