ITV will showcase some of its most popular content on YouTube with full episodes of shows across all genres. The new partnership also enables ITV to sell the advertising around its programming on the platform.
ITV and YouTube have announced a new distribution and commercial partnership which will see ITV joining YouTube’s partner programme enabling hundreds of hours of ITV content to be made available to viewers on the platform.
ITV’s partnership with YouTube is part of its strategy to deliver maximum choice to viewers, and to increase reach and viewing opportunities. ITV will showcase some of its most popular content on YouTube with full episodes of shows across all genres, including I’m A Celebrity, The Masked Singer, An Audience With Kylie, Olivia Marries Her Match, Ferne McCann: My Family & Me, Bullseye, You Bet! and soap operas. ITV will continue to curate and grow the content library over the upcoming months.
Genre based channels including ITV News and ITV Sport will be developed alongside channels for ITV Daytime shows including This Morning and Loose Women, and broader show specific offerings such as Love Island or I’m A Celebrity.
Further, ITV will be creating and developing clips, compilations and fan content around its brands specially tailored for the YouTube audience to engage more closely with, as well as seasonal uploads and delving into the ITV vaults for hidden gems.
The new partnership also enables ITV to sell the advertising around its produced and commissioned programming on the platform. ITV Studios’ new digital content label, Zoo 55, will manage ITV’s and ITV Studios’ presence on YouTube. ITV’s commercial team will be tasked with selling advertising around ITV Studios’ channels in the UK, including The Graham Norton Show, Hell’s Kitchen, The Voice Global and Our World.
ITV is launching a dedicated YouTube sales team within ITV Commercial. This team will be led by Abul Noor, who joins ITV from Channel 4 in a newly created role as Head of YouTube Sales. Advertisers will be able to target their campaigns by various factors including programmes, genre, viewer demographic, and device-type.
Commenting on the partnership, Kevin Lygo, Managing Director, ITV Media and Entertainment said: “This partnership is part of our continuing strategic approach to maximise reach and viewing opportunities for audiences, wherever they choose to watch, alongside the successful and thriving ITVX, and our market leading commercial TV channels.”
Kelly Williams, Managing Director, ITV Commercial, added: “Working with YouTube provides our advertisers with even more ways to engage with audiences in premium brand-safe content from the nation’s best loved TV shows, with a wide selection of targeting options. ITV Commercial’s sales team will be selling the inventory around all our YouTube content, and working alongside ITV Studios and Zoo 55 we will be creating opportunities for clients across a wide span of genres and programmes beyond ITV’s commissioned long form content. I’m also delighted to welcome Abul Noor to our team to spearhead this important development in our digital commercial strategy.”
Alison Lomax, Managing Director, YouTube UK & Ireland, said: “ITV is one of the UK’s most beloved TV broadcasters and is home to a hugely diverse range of content – from I’m A Celebrity to Bullseye. So we are thrilled to be strengthening our partnership, which will see hundreds of hours of programmes available on YouTube for the first time. Through full episodes, clips, compilations and brand-new fan content, audiences will be able to forge even deeper connections with the shows they love.”
