Sky acquires YouTube video specialist

Sky on Friday acquired social media video content producer Diagonal View to help the broadcaster engage with younger audiences and produce "brand-safe digital opportunities" for advertisers.

Diagonal View is behind the Youtube channels Alltime10s and Football Daily, leveraging its audience of more than 15m subscribers and roughly 1bn online views in the past year to create campaigns for some large advertisers.

In comparison, Sky Sports online offering garnered around 2bn online eyeballs.

Diagonal View’s founder Matt Heiman and the rest of his management team will continue to lead the business within the wider Sky group.

“Last year Sky Sports reached one in five of the UK & Ireland’s total digital population and this acquisition will further our ability to reach new social audiences," said Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis.

"The breadth and diversity of sports that Sky has rights to, combined with Diagonal View’s track record in building audiences from scratch will be a powerful partnership; benefitting customers and advertisers alike. Matt has an excellent team at Diagonal View that will complement our existing team of creatives and producers here at Sky.”