Outlook
How to brief connected TV advertising in Manchester
A practical guide for Manchester advertisers briefing connected TV advertising: agency structures, MediaCityUK, regional inventory and the questions to ask.
What to take away
- Connected TV advertising bought from Manchester runs through different hands than London money: smaller agency teams, media owners based at MediaCityUK and regional inventory.
- MediaCityUK hosts ITV Granada, BBC North and a growing cluster of streaming and ad-tech firms, so planning and production talent sits locally rather than in Soho.
- Regional pricing is usually softer than London, but inventory is thinner, so a Manchester buyer trades reach for efficiency.
- Most North West brands still route the trading desk through London while keeping strategy, creative and reporting in Manchester.
- Ask any partner how they buy, what they charge on top, and how BARB or platform data proves the buy worked.
Why Manchester and London CTV buying are not the same trade
Connected TV advertising in the UK is one national market with several local trading cultures. Ofcom regulates it under the Broadcasting Code and the Communications Act 2003. BARB measures the broadcast side. Those rules do not change at the M60. What changes is who sits opposite you when the plan is signed off.
A London agency typically has a dedicated AV department, a trading desk and a programmatic team in the same building. A Manchester agency often has one person doing all three, with a planner overseeing the account. That shapes how a buy gets built long before rates are discussed.
Manchester also sits inside a distinct commercial region. North West England carries a dense mix of retail, ecommerce, financial services and media employers, with a large student population and strong regional identity broadcasting. Advertisers here often want North West weight first and national coverage second, which is the reverse of a London brief.
The result is a different brief, a different inventory list and a different conversation about price. A Manchester buyer who copies a London plan usually pays London rates for coverage they did not ask for.
Agency structures in Manchester and the MediaCityUK sales houses
MediaCityUK at Salford Quays is the structural fact that separates Manchester from every other regional UK market. It hosts ITV Granada, BBC North and a growing cluster of streaming, production and ad-tech businesses. Sales houses and media owners keep people there because the talent is there.
That proximity matters commercially. A Manchester planner can walk a creative through a broadcaster's team, test a format with a local sales contact and get feedback in days. A London planner working the same account does it over email with a national sales house.
Agency structure differs in three practical ways. First, headcount: Manchester teams are leaner, so one planner may cover TV, video on demand and programmatic display. Second, seniority: the person who pitches often stays on the account, which shortens approval chains. Third, specialism: fewer Manchester agencies run a standalone AV trading function, so buying is often outsourced.
Thinkbox guidance on choosing a partner is worth reading before you shortlist, because it sets out what a good partner should bring to the table rather than what they claim in a pitch.
That leaner structure has a cost. A small Manchester team has less buying power with sales houses than a London desk working across dozens of clients. Volume still buys discount, and volume mostly lives in London.
Regional pricing and inventory differences for Mancunian buyers
Regional CTV pricing in the UK is not published as a single rate card. Broadcasters and platforms quote by campaign, audience and time of year. What is consistent is that regional inventory is priced below national inventory, and London inventory carries the highest premium of all.
Thinkbox publishes plain guidance on the Cost of TV advertising, which is the sensible starting point before any Manchester advertiser accepts a quote. It explains the moving parts: audience size, length of campaign, daypart and the difference between spot and sponsorship.
Regional pricing and inventory differences
Manchester pattern
- Rate level
- Softer regional rates
- Inventory depth
- Thinner, fewer spots per break
- Audience target
- North West weight first
- Agency fee
- Often lower, smaller team
- Lead time
- Shorter, local contacts
- Measurement
- BARB plus platform data
London pattern
- Rate level
- Highest national premium
- Inventory depth
- Deep, wide choice
- Audience target
- National or London-first
- Agency fee
- Higher, more specialists
- Lead time
- Longer, more process
- Measurement
- Same, plus more custom work
Inventory depth is the trade-off nobody mentions in a pitch. A Manchester buyer targeting North West adults can be pushed into broad national buys when regional spots sell out, which quietly raises the cost per thousand. Ask what happens when the regional break is full.
Connected TV advertising also sits inside a wider digital market. Adspend | IAB UK is the reference point for how video and CTV budgets are moving across the UK, and it is a useful sanity check on any forecast a partner gives you.
How London trading desks and Manchester teams divide the work
The common North West arrangement is a Manchester strategy and account team with a London trading desk executing the buy. It works, but only when the split is written down.
A typical division looks like this:
How the work divides
- Manchester sets the objective, audience and North West weighting.
- Manchester writes the brief and agrees the budget ceiling.
- The London desk negotiates rates and books inventory.
- Manchester approves the plan and signs off creative.
- Manchester owns reporting and the client relationship.
Where this breaks is accountability. If the London desk optimises for national reach because that is what its deals reward, the Manchester brief quietly disappears. Put the North West weighting in writing, with a minimum share of impressions in the region.
Fee transparency is the second fault line. A London desk may charge a percentage of working media plus a separate technology fee. A Manchester agency may bundle everything into one retainer. Neither is wrong, but you cannot compare them until both are broken out.
The same discipline applies to costs and budgets before you sign, so you are comparing like with like.
Ask who owns the platform seats, who holds the contract with the sales house, and who can see the raw delivery data. If the answer is the London desk and only the London desk, you have given away your bargaining position.
What a Manchester advertiser should ask before briefing a CTV buy
A short brief is fine. A vague brief is expensive. Work through this list before you send anything out.
- Which platforms and broadcasters will carry the buy — Sky AdSmart, ITVX or another streamer — and how much is North West targeted?
- What is the working media budget, and what sits on top as fee or technology cost?
- How will regional delivery be reported, and how often?
- What happens if regional inventory sells out in a peak period?
- Who negotiates rates, and who signs the insertion order?
- How will success be judgedreach, completed views, response or sales?
- What does the exit look like if the first quarter underdelivers?
Worked example. A Manchester ecommerce brand with a £40,000 quarterly budget wants North West adults aged 25 to 54. It splits the money 70 per cent CTV, 30 per cent paid social. The Manchester agency writes the brief and holds the creative. A London desk buys the CTV portion.
At the end of quarter one, the report shows strong national reach but only 38 per cent of impressions in the North West. The fix is not a new agency. It is a written regional minimum, agreed before the next insertion order, plus a monthly delivery check rather than a quarterly one.
For a smaller in-house team, the practical question is how to cover planning, buying and reporting without hiring three people. The answer is usually a clear split of roles, which is what the guidance on team roles for smaller teams sets out.
Reading connected TV advertising agency reviews in a regional market
Reviews are thinner in Manchester than in London, so each one carries more weight and more risk of being unrepresentative. A single glowing review from a national client tells you little about how an agency handles a North West weighting.
Read for specifics rather than sentiment. A useful review names the platform mix, the reporting cadence and the fee structure. A review that only says the team was lovely is a character reference, not evidence.
Check whether the reviewer's budget and sector resemble yours. A Manchester retailer buying regional spots has little in common with a national financial brand buying across all UK broadcasters, even if both used the same agency.
Look for signs the agency understands regional trading: mentions of MediaCityUK contacts, North West inventory, or BARB regional data. Those details are hard to fake and easy to verify.
It also helps to read agency reviews alongside a clear view of what the work should cost, so you can compare quotes and budgets side by side before you shortlist.
Finally, treat a review as one data point among several. Ask for two client references in the North West, ask what the agency would do differently on your brief, and ask who actually runs the buy. The answers matter more than the star rating.
