Toyota To Sponsor ITV1’s F1 Coverage

Granada has announced that Toyota is to sponsor ITV1’s Formula One coverage for the next four years in a deal worth more than £25m.

The deal, thought to be one of biggest in UK sports broadcasting to date, will run from March 2002 and includes full broadcast sponsorship of the racing event, online sponsorship of the ITV-F1 website, off-screen promotions, viewer competitions and SMS campaigns.

Toyota will sponsor 17 qualifying race programmes, 17 race programmes and 17 highlights programmes in each Formula One season, which runs from March to October.

Managing director of Granada Broadcasting and Enterprises, Mick Desmond, said: “This new partnership between Granada and Toyota is evidence of the continuing power of premium packaged sports events on ITV1. Formula One is a lynchpin of our male programming, in particular the upmarket audience, which regularly receives over 50% share of ABC1 men. This represents an excellent branding opportunity for Toyota.”

Commercial director at Toyota, Mike Moran, added: “Our sponsorship of ITV’s F1 programming coincides with our entry into F1 and is another important step in our aggressive sales strategy.”

Toyota replaces Texaco, which has sponsored ITV’s formula one coverage for the past five years.

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