Sofia Digital and Broadpeak bring HbbTV performance advertising to legacy sets

This partnership provides a technical bridge for broadcasters to monetize legacy DTT and HbbTV footprints with the same precision as modern connected TV platforms. By enabling targeted ad replacement on older hardware, Broadpeak and Sofia Digital are effectively expanding the total addressable inventory available to performance-oriented advertisers. Within the broader ecosystem, this move signals a shift toward unifying fragmented television standards under a single interactive advertising framework. Watch for adoption rates among European broadcasters at IBC 2026 to determine if these interactive formats can successfully convert lean-back viewers into active shoppers.

Broadpeak has been steadily building its position in the addressable advertising infrastructure layer for hybrid broadcast-broadband environments. In June 2026, Ericsson launched its AI in RAN commercial software subscription claiming up to 20% higher downlink throughput across more than 15 live deployments, underscoring the broader industry push toward intelligent network layers that can support real-time ad decisioning at scale. For HbbTV performance advertising specifically, the ability to deliver targeted creative over managed networks directly affects the viability of spot replacement on legacy DTT sets. Broadpeak's CDN and ad-insertion technology sits at the intersection of broadcast delivery and IP-based personalization, a segment where multiple European operators are now testing addressable replacements for traditional linear ad breaks. The business case for HbbTV performance advertising is being reinforced by competitive moves across the CTV and addressable TV landscape. Nokia announced work with AWS and Databricks to build the data, cloud, and control layers for autonomous networks at DTW Ignite in June 2026, claiming operators are already achieving automation rates higher than 90 percent and service delivery times of four hours or less. While Nokia's focus is network operations rather than ad tech, the same data-unification principles apply to addressable advertising platforms that must reconcile fragmented viewer data across broadcast and broadband touchpoints. Sofia Digital's Spot2Spot and Click2 products target precisely this fragmentation by enabling smartphone-based interaction with TV ads, creating a measurable conversion path that advertisers can attribute without relying on set-top-box return-path data alone. On the technical side, Ericsson has positioned its network strategy around what it calls an "intelligent fabric" capable of hosting AI inference at the edge rather than solely in centralized data centers. Ericsson's CTO Ekudden highlighted that uplink traffic could triple over the next five years, driven by AI glasses, persistent voice interaction, sensors, and real-time video. For HbbTV performance advertising, rising uplink capacity matters because interactive ad formats like Broadpeak's BannersIn overlay and Sofia Digital's Click2 companion-screen features depend on low-latency bidirectional communication between the viewer's device and the ad server. In roughly a third of operator networks today, uplink growth is already outpacing downlink growth by 50 percent, according to Ericsson's data, suggesting that the infrastructure conditions for programmatic CTV are improving across European markets where HbbTV penetration is highest. As these interactive tools evolve, CTV QR code scan rates remain a critical metric for measuring the effectiveness of companion-screen engagement. Recent industry developments, such as Havas Play partners with iion to automate interactive advertising production, further highlight the growing demand for streamlined creative workflows in the addressable space. New AGF HbbTV data integration will also provide better measurement for these deployments, while deep learning TV advertising models continue to refine how these interactive assets are served. As shoppable ads drive revenue, contextual advertising adoption surges, these performance-driven HbbTV solutions offer a privacy-compliant alternative to behavioral tracking.