PHD holds on to £6m UKTV work

PHD has retained the £6m media planning and buying account for UKTV, the broadcaster of a suite of digital channels jointly owned by Flextech and the BBC.

PHD is understood to have pitched against BLM Media, Carat and Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The pitch was run by the Haystack Group and overseen by acting marketing director Maya Bhose, who is standing in for Julia Weston while she is on maternity leave.

PHD had held the account for more than six years before Bhose called the review. UKTV claims that it regularly reviews its suppliers to ensure that it gets the best service and value for money.

UKTV has nine branded channels, including UKTV Food and UKTV Style, which are predominantly broadcast on digital satellite and cable. UKTV History and UKTV Bright Ideas are also broadcast on Freeview. UKTV Gold, which broadcasts vintage BBC comedies, is the most popular of UKTV’s channels.

Creative agencies Mother and Karmarama handle the broadcaster’s advertising.

UKTV recently rebranded its channels to include the full name of the television company. UKTV has also been experimenting with ad breaks of various lengths in an effort to prevent viewers from channel hopping and to give ads greater stand-out.