Fox International Channels, a division of News Corp focused on TV markets outside North America, has paid an “eight-figure sum” for a majority stake in Utarget, a London-based advertising network specialising in video.

More than 630 websites and publishers, including Viacom, BSkyB and Channel 4, use Utarget’s “subsite” technology to serve video advertisements. The technology – also known as “pop-under” due to similarities with “pop-up” web advertisements – opens a video ad in a browser window behind a participating site. That is less intrusive than pop-ups, Utarget claims, and allows regular TV ads to start as soon as the user sees them.