Camelot sponsors primetime TV programming
The operator of the UK National Lottery has signed a deal with ITV to sponsor three major Saturday night shows.
UK.- The National Lottery operator Camelot has signed an unprecedented deal with the broadcaster ITV to sponsor three consecutive Saturday night television shows.
The operator will sponsor the upcoming seasons of The Masked Singer, The Voice UK and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, three of the channel’s most popular programmes.
It is the first time that a single brand has sponsored all three of the channel’s major Saturday night programmes.
The deal, which will begin on December 19 and will last for three months, will cover multi-platform activation as well as on-air sponsorship.
Spots will feature “amusing, larger-than-life idents” created by Aardman, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit.
Camelot’s chief marketing officer, Keith Moor, said: “The National Lottery has been making Saturday night more entertaining for the past 26 years, with every ticket providing a moment of anticipation while also helping to raise around £30m each week for National Lottery-funded good causes.
“These are ITV’s flagship entertainment shows with the biggest audiences – so there’s a fantastic fit between the two brands with this partnership and it will only help people to better understand the connection between The National Lottery’s unique purpose and play.”
The agreement was negotiated and will be managed by media agency Vizeum, with creative strategy and approach led by communications agency Adam & Eve.
The Gambling Commission has opened the tender process for the next National Lottery licence, which will begin from August 2023. Camelot will face competition from Sazka and Sugal & Damani.
Meanwhile, Camelot has announced that it will implement a change in the minimum age limit for National Lottery products, raising the minimum age from 16 to 18 by April 2021.
The announcement came after criticism from MPs when Camelot initially said it would take up to a year to enforce the change.
Camelot has reported sales of £3.85bn for the six months ending September 26, down by just 1.7 per cent on the same period last year as mobile growth helped offset the impact of retail decline during the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown.
