Pioneer to sponsor BAFTAs after move to ITV

Pioneer, the consumer electronics brand, has signed up as broadcast sponsor of the televising of the BAFTAs following its switch from the BBC to ITV.

ITV will screen the awards show on ITV1, with ITV2 airing two additional behind-the-scenes programmes: The Stars Arrive and Party. All on-air activity will be sponsored by Pioneer, which last year signed as a headline sponsor of the event itself.

The ITV package also includes sponsorship of the website, mobile interactive break bumpers and on-air marketing.

ITV Sales sponsorship and branded content manager Ella Fletcher says Pioneer’s use of ITV’s “short code” service on- and off-air marks a media first for the broadcaster. The deal, believed to be worth six figures, was negotiated by Media Planning Group and ITV Sales.

The inaugural British Academy Television Awards took place in 1954. The British Academy’s Film Awards are headline sponsored by mobile phone company Orange and this year aired on the BBC.

The British Academy of Television Awards ceremony is being held in London on Sunday, May 7, and will be broadcast a day later. Last year the event attracted 5 million viewers on BBC1.