Vauxhall funds new ITV4 motorsport programmes
 

ITV and Carat have announced today that Vauxhall is to fully fund VXR Racing Driver of the Year on ITV4. The two 60-minute programmes, produced by North One Television and presented by Louise Goodman and Ted Kravitz, will follow coverage of the Vauxhall semi-final and final events.

Dave Fewings, ITV4 Channel Editor, put the deal in context: "ITV4 has shown really strong growth across 2007 with viewing figures up 33% for men. We've seen great performances across all our genres - sport, movies, drama and factual entertainment. These new advertiser funded commissions fit perfectly with ITV4's remit: 'action packed programming for men', and will complement weekend motorsport." The commission was managed by Paul Dunn-Baker, ITV Client Development Manager and Laura Brown, Sponsorship Manager at media agency Carat. Unique Richard Hughes, Group Marketing and Communications Manager at Vauxhall Motors Ltd, explained the motivations for the move: "Vauxhall have been involved in motorsport and the BTCC for some time - we believe this unique show will appeal to ITV4's young male audience and look forward to the event growing in the future." ITV announced earlier this month that it had signed a new three-year deal to broadcast the British Touring Cars Championship and will broadcast the events live on ITV4 with up to five hours of coverage on Sunday afternoons as well as highlights on ITV1.   Other advertiser funded shows also commissioned for ITV4 include:   •   Honda Powerboat Racing returning to ITV4 later this year as a 10 x 30 minute series, to be fully funded by Honda   •   The second series of Canonball 8000: Destination Zagreb will be a one hour feature produced by Rob Hallam at Big Tank Productions and is fully funded by Rock Computers   •   European Challenge is funded by Partygaming.