British broadcaster UKTV announced today it has agreed a £1 million ‘airtime for equity’ deal with online marketplace ClickMechanic. The deal was secured by UKTV Ventures, a fund launched by UKTV back in 2018 dedicated to airtime-for-equity deals, as the broadcaster seeks to bring new money into TV advertising.
ClickMechanic, which lets customers book car repairs and service from a marketplace of mechanics online, will receive £1 million worth of airtime across UKTV’s channels: Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday. In return, UKTV will take a stake in the start-up, though the size of the stake was not disclosed.
As VAN reported last year, while media for equity deals aren’t new, several broadcasters have been turning to them in recent years as a means of bringing new money into TV. Sheen Amin, director of UKTV Ventures, told VAN that these deals are particularly suited for smaller businesses which don’t necessarily have the funds to launch a TV campaign themselves, but who would otherwise be well suited to TV.
Recent research from Thinkbox highlighted the benefits of these sorts of deals. The study found that on average, for a brand with less than £50 million brand value, a £1 million TV campaign can drive up sales by 20 percent.
“We’re excited for this fantastic opportunity to reach millions of new consumers,” said ClickMechanic CEO Andrew Jervis. “To be partnering with and having one of the UK’s biggest multi-channel broadcasters as an investor will enable us to ramp up our growth efforts and bring our service to a mass market. We’ve already had success building a product that customers and mechanics love and we hope they enjoy our new ad too.”
Since its 2018 launch, UKTV Ventures also invested in child-focused SVOD service Hopster, which recently expanded into the African Market, and pet-tech start up PitPat.
