ITV Teams With Evening Standard To Snare Commuters
ITV will break new ground in print advertising this month by inserting adverts for its latest reality talent contest X Factor into the Evening Standard‘s TV listings page in an effort to win over weary commuters planning their night’s entertainment.
ITV’s ads will run throughout the autumn in the very centre of the newspaper’s television pages, which have been rearranged to accommodate the new format. The campaign was planned and negotiated by Starcom Motive in an attempt to target potential viewers at their most susceptible.
Explaining the use of the new advertising format, Adrian Pike, head of press at Starcom Motive, said: “It is important that we continue to challenge conventions and everyday confines of the media we use to provide our clients with fresh, innovative ways to reach their target audience and deliver maximum impact.”
The campaign builds on current outdoor advertising for the reality show, featuring celebrity judge Simon Cowell as a boxing contender versus fellow judges Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh or the general public. The campaign is currently running on posters on the London Underground, in London taxis and railway stations.
ITV will be hoping for bumper audiences for X Factor, as the high-profile show is among the broadcaster’s autumn offerings designed to boost its flagging schedules. Alongside the newly poached Parkinson, X Factor represents ITV’s latest attempt to boost its declining audience share which could cost the broadcaster £100 million in compensation to advertisers (see Dip In Share Leaves ITV Facing Revenue Shortfall).
The latest viewing figures from BARB show that ITV saw its average weekly share of viewing in all homes drop by 3.3% points year on year during August to below the crucial 20% mark as the success of the BBC’s Olympic coverage took its toll on the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster (see Digital Television Round-Up – August 2004).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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