Channel 4 To Screen Flora Funded Fitness Show
Channel 4 will this month make deeper in-roads into the rapidly expanding area of advertiser funded programming with the launch of a series of health orientated docusoaps funded by FMCG brand Flora Pro.activ.
The funding deal will see a series of five thirty-minute programmes entitled Fit Street broadcast by Channel 4. They will follow a group of Clapham Park residents as they try to help look after their health by making improvements to their lifestyle and diet.
Fit Street will debut on 31 August with a double episode being screened in Channel 4’s daytime schedule. The remaining programmes will be transmitted from 1 September to 3 September. The series will also be repeated in an early morning slot for the following week.
Commenting on the programming deal, Katie Quinton, senior brand manager for Flora, said: “Fit Street has been produced as a television series to show that, by utilising expert advice and making small changes to diet and lifestyle, can help heart health.”
She added: “We have joined together with the Clapham Park Project, a government New Deal for Community initiative, to run a 12-month heart health project in the local community which gives residents support and advice on how to improve their diet and lifestyle for better maintenance of their heart health.”.
Flora’s funding of Fit Street was negotiated by MGA Broadcasting. MGA’s Malcolm Grant explained the benefits of ad funded programming, stating: “Fit Street is an excellent demonstration of how three parties can work together to produce a programme series that not only meets audience requirements, but also helps to effectively answer current health issues”.
The use of advertiser funded programming is clearly on the increase. In May, Interactive Digital Sales and Mediacom secured Swedish furniture giant IKEA to fund a series of short interior design programmes for broadcast on UKTV. The series, entitled What you wish for, was aired on UKTV Style and UKTV Bright Ideas delivering highly targeted audiences (see UKTV Secures Ikea To Launch Advertiser-Funded Series).
Earlier this year the Branded Content Marketing Association released research estimating that the number of advertiser funded television programs will increase by around 400% before the end of the year. The BCMA stated that advertisers will turn to the medium in search for more cost effective ways to promote their products (see Advertiser Funded Television To Take Off In 2004).
Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com
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