I’m A Celebrity Is First Choice For Holiday Firm

ITV has secured First Choice Holidays the exclusive broadcast sponsor of the fourth series of its highly successful reality-TV format I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here, which will return to the channel later this year.

The last series of the antipodean gameshow proved a solid ratings winner for ITV1 with an average of more than 11 million viewers per episode and a record 15.7 million people tuning in to see former Atomic Kitten star, Kerry McFadden, crowned queen of the jungle in the series finalé (see Almost 16 Million Viewers Watch I’m A Celebrity Final).

ITV will no doubt be hoping to replicate this success and celebrities rumoured to be taking part in the fourth series include the former-soccer commentator Ron Atkinson, retired England midfielder Paul Gascoigne and classical singer Charlotte Church.

First Choice sponsored the last series of I’m A Celebrity in a deal that included a range of online and interactive options. The holiday company also supported its association with the gameshow by dressing more than 300 of its travel shops and holiday hypermarkets in jungle foliage (see Granada Secures First Choice For Celebrity Sponsorship).

Commenting on the deal, Leigh Alexander, senior sponsorship executive at ITV Sales, said: “We are delighted to have First Choice continue their sponsorship into the next series of I’m A Celebrity. The programme is clearly one of our prime properties and to continue such an association with a client is a testament to the fact that major event television can provide a sponsor with an ongoing brand proposition over a period.”

Sam Turnbull, UK marketing director of First Choice, added: “We are absolutely delighted to be involved once more in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here. The sponsorship worked brilliantly for us earlier this year, and genuinely became a theme for the whole company.”

The deal was negotiated by Leigh Alexander at ITV Sales and Oliver Croom-Johnson of SPP on behalf of First Choice’s media agency Walker Media. Sponsorship idents will be created by First Choice’s through-the-line agency Phoenix and will build on the families of animated creatures developed for the last series.

ITV’s I’m A Celebrity has steadily increased in popularity since it first hit our screens back in August 2002. Viewing figures for the second series were somewhat unstable but the latest instalment proved the most popular yet with a 51% share of viewers aged between 16 and 34 (see Jungle Antics Keep Viewers Turned On To I’m A Celebrity).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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