9th September 2024, Vienna—UKTV, the award-winning British broadcaster owned by
BBC Studios, has selected XroadMedia, the leading personalisation and content discovery
specialists, to provide content personalisation capabilities for its new U streaming app.
Earlier this summer, UKTV rebranded its VOD service UKTV Play to U and its free to air
channels to U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&YESTERDAY and U&W, in a move designed to connect its
portfolio of free channels and its streaming service to aid understanding and content
discoverability amongst its viewers. UKTV’s focus is now on ensuring content can be
presented on U effectively, delivering highly personalised viewing for each user.
XroadMedia is working with UKTV to improve user management by utilising smarter
segments to drive even more engaging experiences for U’s millions of registered viewers at
every stage of their lifecycle. This includes cold starts, ensuring that even new users will be
able to quickly find something to watch that they will love.
XroadMedia is also working with UKTV to deliver a dynamic UI filled with personalised
content rows, mixing editorial curation and automated personalisation to enrich the
content discovery process. These include editorial banners featuring curated box promo
assets tailored to individual preferences, a “New to UKTV” row highlighting recent additions
aligned with the user’s interests and rows like “For You”, “Because You Watched” and “Most
Popular in Category”, offering AI-driven recommendations based on viewing history, user
profiles and more. These personalised rows will adapt in real-time, ensuring that each
user’s homepage remains fresh, relevant and engaging with every visit to U – at any time
and on any device.
To further optimise results for defined KPIs and A/B tests, the product and editorial teams
are using XroadMedia’s advanced analytics tools to better understand and act on results
and trends, helping to continuously refine personalisation use cases, ensuring optimal
performance and maximising the value delivered to viewers.
Declan Clarke, Head of Digital Products, UKTV, said: “We are delighted to be working with
XroadMedia to enhance the viewers’ experience of our U Streaming app. They understand
our business and approach projects with innovation, creativity and enthusiasm.”
XroadMedia’s Chief Executive Officer, Adolf Proidl, adds, “We’re ecstatic to have been
selected and to bring our cutting-edge personalisation technology to UKTV as they
prioritise their viewers. This is a core value for us at XroadMedia and the main driver for us
to work closely with our clients to help innovate and drive user engagement, increase
viewer satisfaction and ultimately contribute to the platform’s growth and retention goals.”
The first phase of the project will go live in November, but XroadMedia believes that
personalisation should go beyond the UI. Therefore, the next phase will look at additional
ways to expand UKTV’s personalisation opportunities and use cases.
Meet the XroadMedia team to talk about this project and other personalization
opportunities at IBC 2024 on stand 5.B23. Book some time here.
About U
U is UKTV’s free streaming service, providing instant access to shows from UKTV’s
free-to-air channels – U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W and U&YESTERDAY. Viewers can browse
nearly 8,500 hours of programming – including exclusive content, award-winning originals,
premiere acquisitions and iconic BBC programmes across drama, (Whitstable Pearl, Marlow
Murder Club, Sister Boniface Mysteries, Sons of Anarchy, Mike, Madam Secretary, A Million
Little Things, The Shield, The Bill, Classic EastEnders, Holby City plus upcoming series in
2025 such as Bergerac and Outrageous), comedy (Meet the Richardsons, Red Dwarf, Live
at the Apollo, Mock the Week, We Are Not Alone, Rosie Jones’s Comedy Disability
Extravaganza), entertainment (Battle in the Box, Big Zuu’s Big Eats, David Mitchell’s
Outsiders, QI, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, World’s Most Dangerous Roads), and factual
entertainment (Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance, Gemma & Gorka: Life Behind the Lens,
Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, MasterChef Australia, Katie Piper: Jailhouse Mums, Emma
Willis: Delivering Babies, Secrets of the London Underground, Bangers & Cash, Orlanda
Bloom: To The Edge).
U is available through the U app via computer, tablet or smart phone, or on television with
Freeview Play, Amazon Fire TV, YouView, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Freesat, NOW devices, Sky
Glass, Sky Stream, Virgin Media and Roku.
u.co.uk
About UKTV
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 30 years, entertaining the
nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands – U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W,
U&YESTERDAY, Gold, Alibi and Eden – span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual
and drama, and are delivered to UK viewers through free streaming service U, Sky, Virgin
Media, NOW, Freeview and Freesat; and to Irish viewers through Sky, Virgin Media, Eir,
Vodafone and NOW. Channel & content availability varies by platform. UKTV’s content is also
available to UK viewers via dedicated FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee,
Pluto TV and Virgin Media.
UKTV is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and
established writers, directors and programme-makers. The broadcaster is part of BBC
Studios, the UK’s most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with
international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world’s leading public
service broadcaster, the BBC.
corporate.uktv.co.uk | press.uktv.co.uk | @uktvpress
About XroadMedia
XroadMedia was founded by leading specialists with over 20 years of experience in content
discovery and addressable TV. XroadMedia provides innovative personalization solutions
exclusively to media companies. Through dynamic user interfaces and by going beyond
recommendations and the UI to engage every user at every touchpoint, we can help drive
churn reduction, increase revenue and increase time spent. Create user experiences that
show you know your users with targeted advertising, personalized notifications, tailored
upsell offers and more to keep users happy in an ever-growing and changing market.
Delivering personalization to over 200M users for operators, streaming services and
broadcasters globally, including Vodafone, A1 Telekom Austria Group, Claro and Three.
