SeeSaw hopeful for more ITV content

SeeSaw, the online TV service from Arqiva, is hoping a change in senior management at ITV will enable it to include more of the broadcaster’s content on the site.

The service officially launched today with 3,000 hours of programming but so far has had to source ITV content, such as Doc Martin and Kingdom, directly from producers.

Platform controller John Keeling said he hoped to see a new digital strategy from the recently appointed chairman and chief executive of ITV. “The door is open – we’d love to talk to them,” he told new media age.

SeeSaw expects its programming hours to approximately double over the next six months. The service is initially being funded by 60-second pre-roll and mid-break ads from 17 advertisers, including Diageo, Kraft, Swiftcover and Weetabix.

By Easter, SeeSaw expects to be offering pay-per-view streaming services, but no prices have yet been disclosed. It’s also investigating subscription services, said Keeling.

Pierre-Jean Sebert, SeeSaw CEO, hailed the launch as a “watershed moment” in TV and said he wanted SeeSaw to become “a household name in entertainment online in this country” after a successful beta test involving 20,000 users.

He added that SeeSaw is in talks with set-top box and console manufacturers about carrying the service, and was looking at Canvas closely. “We hope to be capable of including SeeSaw on one of these new routes to market,” he said. However, Sebert said the service won’t offer movies.

SeeSaw has appointed ad agency Fallon to create a £5m campaign to promote the service.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk