Betting and gaming company BoyleSports will sponsor Big Brother on Virgin Media this season in a deal understood to be worth about €250,000.
Gill Blake-Swift, director of brand and advertising at BoyleSports, said this was a good opportunity and “a really exciting area for our business”. The sponsorship deal gives the company exposure to a group that it wishes to reach.
The company believes the sponsorship will add to its impact in the gaming market in Ireland. Gaming is the playing of such games as roulette or slot machines online. More women than men tend to be involved in gaming.
The majority of the audience of the Big Brother TV gameshow is female and BoyleSports sees this sponsorship as a chance to engage with this sector of the audience.
“The sports side of our business has a more male skew, but the gaming side certainly is slightly more female skewed,” Ms Blake-Swift said.
The programme begins at 9pm on Sunday, October 6th and will run for six weeks. The show sees a number of people move in to the Big Brother house and viewers will have a vote to decide who wins. However, Irish audiences will not be able to vote as it is an ITV-owned show.
Overall, the programme this year will include a 90-minute show on launch night as well as five, hour-long episodes over the following weeks and will conclude with a 90-minute live final. A spin-off Big Brother show will also be included in the programme schedule.
Sarah Taylor, client solutions lead at Virgin Media Television, described Big Brother as “the original social experiment”.
Ms Taylor said Virgin Media was looking forward to bringing viewers on a journey with the contestants through one of the most iconic houses in television.
Hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best will return as co-presenters for their second year in the show’s 24th season.
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