SBS’s Lee Fifoot on connecting brands to a diverse Australian audience

As the ad industry market leans further into identity, privacy and proof of performance, Australian broadcaster SBS is betting that the next frontier of data-driven marketing will be both ethical and effective.

At its 2026 upfront, SBS unveiled SBS Data Lab, a unified data offering designed to help brands connect with Australia’s diverse audience in more personalized, privacy-safe ways.

The new platform builds on a series of partnerships: from Experian and SMRTR for data enrichment, to Adobe, Snowflake and InfoSum for activation.

It also marks SBS as the first Australian broadcaster to activate Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) across CTV.

In this Q&A, Lee Fifoot, acting director of media sales at SBS, explains how Data Lab is redefining SBS’ approach to audience connection, and why the broadcaster believes the future of data isn’t just about who you reach, but how you reach them.

What was the driving force behind launching SBS Data Lab and bringing your various data initiatives under one roof now?

The idea was to take a leadership approach to data.

We were the first [in Australia] to add a registration to our [BVOD] site, SBS On Demand, which has given us a profile of over 13 million registered users, and SBS Data Lab really showcases the strength that we have across our partnerships with multiple technology and data enrichment partners that we have as well.

The main crux of it is to highlight the valuable audience that we have, the scale that we have and the uniqueness of that audience that we have.

How do you define that “high value audience” and how can SBS Data Lab help advertisers find them?

SBS defines our high value audience as the diverse and multicultural groups that are unique to our network. They are communities you can’t really find anywhere else.

SBS On Demand has grown into a major reach platform with well over a million monthly active users. SBS Data Labs’ secret sauce is about connecting brands to that audience and being able to highlight and showcase the ability to target that particular audience that you don’t necessarily get elsewhere.

Privacy is front of mind for both audiences and advertisers. How do you think tools like UID2 help balance precision targeting with privacy-safe practices? How does that compare to targeting via the walled gardens?

Privacy and compliance, for us, are foremost concerns. We ensure that we put our customers’ privacy first whilst being able to support that contextually relevant advertising experience for each and every one of our viewers — but we’re also supporting advertisers with their targeted advertising and creating that relevant advertising experience for them.

The key difference [using UID2, compared to walled gardens] is the transparency around it which has long been something that SBS has supported for the industry — being transparent with our users about how we use their data, but also being transparent with advertisers about what they’re targeting.

Tell us more about your new opt-out feature. What has the response been among advertisers and viewers?

This is one example of using registration data for good and creating that contextually relevant advertising experience. With our opt-out feature, we’re using our registration process in a privacy-compliant way to enable users to opt out of potentially sensitive categories. It’s creating that balance and making sure we’re supporting the viewer experience but also delivering advertising outcomes as well.

All in all, the uptake has been really positive. Before we launched, we spoke to each and every one of our clients that fit into those categories that might be opted out of, and [our clients] were really on board with it, because, really, they don’t want to be targeting users that aren’t interested in seeing their advertising anyway.

Looking ahead, what’s your vision for SBS Data Lab?

I definitely see it evolving. We sit at this unique and valuable space and what I think we’ll do is continue to build with our advertisers’ needs in mind. We’ll enrich our users’ experience while doing that, and we will continue to try to prove that ROI for our clients and support their needs in market.