ITV Signs Interactive Sponsor
ITV has signed Littlewoods Leisure as the sole sponsor of the interactive TV service which will support its football programming.
The chairman of Carlton Active, which created the interactive service, Martin Bowley, said: “This deal is a major milestone for the interactive TV industry. It proves that advertisers businesses understand and value the significant benefits that interactivity can bring to their brand. Last season viewers accessed the enhanced UEFA service for 15 minutes during each match. For Littlewoods to have that reach, over multiple programmes, across the entire season is monumental.”
The price tag on the deal has not been disclosed, but it will see Littlewoods branding featured throughout the entire service, while the company will also have its own branded content area where information on Littlewoods betting and gaming products will be made available.
ITV Sports has seen success before with its enhanced programming during the UEFA Champions League last season, which, it claims, was used by 80% of digital match viewers. This year’s service will include live match results, interactive games, team sheets, goal information, football news, league tables and fixtures, available alongside football programming.
Colin McGill, managing director of Littlewoods’ holding company, Sportech plc, said: “There is tremendous brand fit between Littlewoods, which already has a 70 year association with Saturday football fixtures, and ITV, which is just embarking on its own association with Saturday football viewing.”
ITV’s football coverage will centre around the Premiership highlights package it bought last year (see How The Premier League Will Cash-In On Kick-Offs), effectively putting an end to the BBC’s Match of the Day. Its own Saturday evening offering, which goes out at a controversially earlier time than BBC coverage used to, did not have the most auspicious start last weekend, failing to beat BBC1 quiz show The Weakest Link (see ITV’s The Premiership Fails To Score).
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