Channel 5 Signs Holiday Site For Latest Equity Deal

Channel 5 has announced its latest dotcom deal, through which it intends to provide www.thefirstresort.com with £3m of support in exchange for a percentage stake in the business.

The package offered to the online travel agent will include spot advertising, programme sponsorship, holiday pages on 5 Text and links from both the 5 Text website and the Channel 5 website. The campaign will begin with heavyweight spot advertising this month, using adverts produced by Bruce Dunlop Associates.

TheFirstResort.com launched on 5 April and has so far advertised in national and regional newspapers, on poster sites, phone boxes, online banners and Capital Radio. The site’s managing director Matthew Prior commented on the Channel 5 deal: “Having such a substantial media partner will enable us to have maximum impact on the travel retail market and catapult the company towards our ambitious targets.”

Channel 5 announced last year that it was looking to strike these kinds of equity deals (see Channel 5 May Swap Airtime For New Media Equity) since then it has signed up RapidInsure.co.uk (see C5 Signs First Airtime-For-Equity Deal) and www.cheekymonkey.com (see Channel 5 Invests More Than A Monkey In Competition Website). This latest deal represents its largest to date.

Channel 5: 020 7550 5555