Targeted ads for Sky Player subscribers

BSkyB has warned subscribers to its Sky Player broadband-based TV service that it plans to introduce AdSmart technology from the New Year.

AdSmart sounds very similar to BT’s Phorm, which proved unpopular with BT’s customers after the company ran secret trials of the technology.

Like Phorm, AdSmart aims to allow advertising to be targeted to subscriber’s interests.

However, unlike BT, BSkyB has warned existing subscribers that targeted advertising technology will be introduced and has given them until 10th December to opt-out.

Failure to opt-out by this date will be taken as agreement to the use of personal information for tailored advertising on Sky Player.

However, after this date, subscribers can still opt-out by logging into My Sky on sky.com and going to Manage my profile.

It will be interesting to see if BSkyB’s more open introduction of targeted advertising makes AdSmart more palatable to consumers than Phorm was.