Classic FM TV selects IDS to handle sales

Classic FM TV has appointed Interactive Digital Sales (IDS) to handle all advertising and commercial sales for the free-to-air channel, which will show ads from April.

The channel, which launched on Sky TV last December, will take four minutes of advertising per hour. Julia Jordan, executive director of business strategy at IDS, will oversee the airtime sales and sponsorship opportunities.

Julian Rigamonti, head of Classic FM TV, says it is seeking to attract only certain categories to use the channel for advertising: “We are sensitive about the environment and how the advertising fits into that as half of our viewers are AB adults.”

BARB figures also showed the channel attracted nearly 750,000 viewers during its first two weeks on air (MW January 16) and is attracting nearly 50,000 new viewers a day. About 55 per cent of its viewers are under 44 years old, with 20 per cent under 24 years old.

The channel airs a range of classic music, including music from original soundtracks to films such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

IDS is the former sales department of Flextech Television, which was rebranded and repositioned as IDS in March 2002. It deals with 14 TV channels and is the interactive digital TV platform of the UK’s cable network and interactive TV advertising.