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Advertising agencies have shown considerable interest in the run-up to the channel’s launch on Sky, according to Richard Hawking, director of operations at Sky Media, which is now responsible for selling ads for the Sparrowhawk portfolio.
“The agencies are always looking for anything that plugs the gap on the female side of viewing on Sky,” he said. “Anything that increases the female audience is attractive given our strength of sports offering on Sky – making us have a more male-inclined audience.”
Hawking added: “Diva TV is also positive for us given the situation with the loss of carriage of our basic channels on the Virgin platform. This has reduced our proportion of audience from the female end.”
Some of the brands set to advertise on Diva TV include Capital FM, Grazia, Boots Number7, Weight­Watchers and Herbal Essences. Sky Media also confirmed that a number of conversations about sponsorship are taking place.
Initially, Diva TV is airing only on Sky, but Maya Bhose, Sparrowhawk’s marketing director, said: “We would always hope for carriage on Virgin at some point.”
Diva TV’s website will launch on the same day as the channel, but with limited content. Sparrowhawk is aiming to gain four million page impressions from placements on leading television guide sites, behavioural targeting networks and high-reach entertainment sites. The main bulk of promotional activity for the site is set to start across more platforms in the New Year.
The station itself is to be promoted in an online campaign from 22 October until 4 November.
Bhose said: “We are aiming to reach the ‘non-desperate housewife’ who relishes her life as both a mother and an employee. The channel has a very magazine feel and the rhythm of the programming reflects the way these women’s lives work.”
The content will be a mixture of health, drama, fashion, lifestyle, fitness, properties and document­aries, and there are plans for a repeats channel to be launched for the Diva TV and Hallmark stations.
Sparrowhawk Media is in the process of being acquired by NBC Universal, but it remains “business as usual”, according to Bhose.