Cobra Beer Extends ITV Sponsorship To ITV4

Premium beer brand Cobra will be the first broadcast sponsor on ITV4, extending its fully integrated sponsorship of all movies on ITV2 and ITV3 after the successful launch of “CobraVision” earlier this year.

The deal, now estimated to be worth £1.2 million, was originally the biggest single deal negotiated for ITV2 and ITV3, marking Cobra’s first entrance into television sponsorship (see Cobra Beer Completes ITV’s Round Of Movie Sponsorships). The new deal also sees Cobra’s debut into spot advertising on ITV1 for the pre-Christmas period.

Commenting on the initiative, Simon Edwards, marketing director of Cobra Beer said: “We are delighted to be extending CobraVison onto ITV4, particularly as up to this point the sponsorship has proved very important in realising Cobra’s strategic plans. We are thoroughly enjoying working with ITV and are looking forward to developing our relationship further.”

Gary Knight, brand partnerships director at ITV Sales added: “We have developed a fantastic partnership with Cobra this year and I am particularly delighted that a very innovative sponsorship approach has delivered significant bottom line sales return.”

ITV launched ITV4 last month, offering viewers premium sporting events, detective and crime based shows and big budget American imports hoping to tempt male viewers away from rival offerings across all digital platforms (see ITV Gears Up For Digital Launch).

The channel also offers healthy dose of reality programming too, with Invasion Iowa chronicling former Star Trek actor William Shatner’s attempts to pull off “the greatest hoax in US history,” while spoof reality show The Assistant

ITV4 is the latest in a long line of digital channel launches by ITV, following ITV3’s launch last year (see ITV3 Launches On Sky Following GSB Acquisition). The broadcaster has plans to expand its channel portfolio further, however, having confirmed that a dedicated children’s TV channel will begin broadcasting by 11 February 2006 (see ITV Confirms February Launch For Kids Channel).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com