Johnston Press is reviewing its TV ad sales venture with Sky over concerns that it may be losing some of its most lucrative advertisers to the pay-TV company.

The regional newspaper publisher has a three-year deal with Sky to sell targeted TV ad slots to clients using the pay-TV company’s AdSmart product.

AdSmart can specifically target TV ads according to household postcode and profile, which allows local businesses to buy cheaper, targeted slots.

Ashley Highfield, the chief executive of Johnston Press, said at the time the deal was struck that giving its advertisers the chance to also run TV ads was a “hugely attractive proposition”.

However, since Johnston Press struck the deal with Sky last September, the company has not provided any indications about how the venture has been performing.

On a results call with City analysts Panmure Gordon’s Jonathan Helliwell pressed Highfield for an update, saying that the promising AdSmart venture had “all gone a bit quiet”.

“I think it is one of those products which we need to think hard about in terms of whether we are giving potentially some of our best customers away,” said Highfield. “It needs to be really closely reviewed in terms of making sure it is beneficial to both firms.”

It is true that three quarters of advertisers using AdSmart, which Sky has described as “levelling the playing field” for local businesses to allow them to compete on TV with big spending national rivals, are either new to Sky or have never advertised on TV before.

“Both firms, Sky and us, are still committed to try and make this work but I think it is a product we are currently under review on,” said Highfield. “I think that would be the fair way of putting it.”

Sky said that so far almost 1,000 advertisers have run over 6,100 campaigns.

“Sky AdSmart is a brilliant product that is delivering targeted TV advertising both locally and nationally for the very first time,” said Jamie West, deputy managing director of Sky Media, the company’s ad sales arm. “We are working with a variety of partners to ensure that this innovative and highly effective products is available to a wide range of brands and customers. With over 72% of advertisers using the Sky AdSmart platform being new to Sky or new to TV it is delivering against our stated ambition of making TV more relevant to more brands.”