Hot On The Heels Of Hear’Say, ITV Plans Another Search For A Star

Less than a week after the Popstars series reached the desired conclusion of Hear’Say entering the singles chart at number 1, ITV has already commissioned another star-making show.

Pearson Television has been commissioned to make a programme which will launch a solo pop artist. Like Popstars it will hold open auditions across the country. Having whittled the numbers down from thousands, the show will adopt the method favoured by Channel 4’s successful reality show Big Brother, by inviting the audience to vote for the winner.

While Popstars was never the highest rating show on the ITV network during its run, it stayed in the top 20 shows in terms of audience throughout, with an average of around 8.5m viewers an episode. Perhaps more valuable to the channel was the vast amount of press interest generated by the show, which is continuing as the chosen band keep up the relentless round of TV appearances, magazine interviews and newspaper splashes that helped give their first single its desired entry into the charts.

The winner of the new series, which has the working title Pop Idol, will get a management deal with 19 Management and a recording contract with RCA, while the guarantee of fame, or at least notoriety will come in the form of a “massive multi-media campaign through television, radio, press and the internet”.

ITV: 020 7843 8222 www.itv.co.uk Pearson Television: 0207 691 6000 www.pearsontv.com

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