July 16th 2015
Factory Media, Europe's largest lifestyle sports and culture media business, has teamed up with award-winning multi-channel network, UKTV, on its first branded-content TV commission, The Indestructibles.
The 12x30' series, presented by well-known action-sports athletes turned media personalities Tim and Gendle (Tim Warwood and Adam Gendle), is funded by fashion-watch brand Casio G-SHOCK through branded content agency The Story Lab and will air on Dave in the autumn.
The new series was commissioned by UKTV's Commissioning Editor Iain Coyle, ordered by Dave General Manager, Steve North and the partnership with Factory Media was brokered by UKTV's Director of Commercial Partnerships, Sally Quick, and Factory Media's Director of Content, Dee Smith.
Each episode of The Indestructibles sees Tim and Gendle dropped in different locations around Britain, where they have to take inspiration from their surroundings and dream up epic stunts that seem impossible. With only one week to build and test their creations, they must also convince an athlete from the world of action sports to take on their daring challenge. UKTV's Commissioning Editor Iain Coyle commented, "The Indestructibles is a fast-paced, adrenaline-filled show, if they can pull off some of these stunts, it's going to be mind-blowing telly. For a Dave audience it's the perfect combination of humour and action."
The deal for The Indestructibles is built on an innovative content-funding model that intimately connects TV and digital audiences whilst delivering maximum added value to the brand, broadcaster and agency.
Dee Smith, Director of Content at Factory Media, said,
These deals are complex and I wanted an "everybody wins" model - where all participants - brands, broadcasters, agencies and audiences naturally add value to each other. The brand gets clarity of message, huge impact in the TV environment as well as the highly targeted ROI associated with good digital advertising. The broadcaster gets high quality programming, along with real time engagement figures, full editorial control and marketing for the show. The agency gets a full service partner and our wealth of experience keeping everybody happy. The art is in balancing the often different but overlapping needs of broadcaster and brand. And Factory fans get truly great content.
UKTV's Sally Quick added,
The deal was borne out of a desire for a clip based, high-octane action sports show on Dave that had a witty tone. At UKTV the commercial partnerships team sits within commissioning which enables us to be extremely proactive and seek out projects and brands that exactly match the needs of our channels.
The content strategy for The Indestructibles includes the creation of over 200 pieces of short form content designed for distribution on Vines, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Content drops will begin three months before broadcast to engage grass roots influencers, test the content and feed audience reaction into the edit. This will intensify to daily drops in the lead up to each weekly broadcast to build audience anticipation and drive TV tune in and digital spikes. The strategy is designed to allow viewers to feel part of an unfolding story and to make the most of Factory Media's highly engaged fan base.
Jennifer Kelly, Senior Marketing Manager, G-SHOCK added, "The G-SHOCK brand philosophy is about pushing the boundaries of what's possible. We like to challenge ourselves to be unconventional, sometimes edgy but always, tough! This, combined with the fact that our heritage is rooted in action sports, made The Indestructibles project an obvious choice for us.
"We were instantly drawn to the opportunity due to the multi-channel nature of the campaign. The 360 approach allows us to talk directly to our classic audience through digital and social channels, whilst driving significant brand awareness via broadcast. We're ramping up for a seriously successful Christmas season as a result!"
The Indestructibles will air on Dave in the autumn. It joins a raft of new content on the channel, which is currently up 8% year-on-year, including Money Pit and brand new series' of Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish and Storage Hunters UK. Dave's most recent advertiser funded show, Red Bull Soap Box Race 2015, was hugely successful and peaked at 764k viewers, up 151% on slot.
END
Notes to Editors
The Indestructibles maximises Factory Media's full service capabilities combining its broadcast-standard production and distribution teams, its constantly growing digital reach of over 350 million through its digital publishing business and its large brand focused sales team who build bespoke multi-platform content solutions from snapchat to negotiation of great tv airtime
Factory Media announced a move from print to digital this spring to better exploit its social-media reach, which peaks at 354 million a month, and its owned audience, which exceeds six million online lifestyle sports fans. This enables brands to use the company as both a content provider and a marketing and distribution agency with access to a super-engaged digital audience. The Unbreakables is Factory Media's first foray into producing content that meets the demands of broadcasters, brands and a highly engaged digital audience.
About Factory Media:
Factory Media is the leading specialist in lifestyle sports and their culture, with over 32 years of experience creating inspirational, engaging and influential content. Founded by CEO Darryl Newton and acquired by the Forward Internet Group in 2012, the media company has 24 owned and operated digital channels, an extensive social media footprint, broadcast quality production and distribution services, with over 130 creative and commercial staff focused on innovative content solutions for brands, broadcasters and agencies.
Owned channels include Mpora, 'the world of action and adventure', Dirt, 'the heart and soul of mountain biking', Surf Europe, ' tomorrow's surfing today', Sidewalk, 'the home of British skateboarding', Onboard, 'the voice of European snowboarding' plus popular cycling titles RCUK and Total Women's Cycling. Reaching over 350 million fans, Factory Media makes a significant and measurable impact on a broad range of influential audiences who love the visual spectacle, amazing stories and authentic content that's produced by its expert teams.
www.factorymedia.com @Factory_Media
About Dave HD
Sky 111/232, Virgin 128, HD: 129, Freeview 12
Dave proudly presents a plethora of original commissions; award-winning Crackanory, Ross Noble Freewheeling, Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish, and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy. Not to mention a brand spanking new original series Hoff the Record, Undercover and Taskmaster.
There's national treasures like QI, Red Dwarf X, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, plus the Red Bull trilogy of Cliff Diving, X-Fighters and the Soap Box races. And of course, we still have Top Gear.
Dave is the UK's most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, featuring hit US shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits, the ludicrously addictive Lizard Lick Towing and the wonder that is Storage Hunters and now original commission Storage Hunters UK, the gift that keeps on giving.
www.joindave.co.uk / @join_dave
About UKTV
UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches 42 million viewers a month.
UKTV's eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, Watch, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food - include the most popular non-PSB channel in the UK and account for 9% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £283m and EBITDA of £74.1m. It invested £123m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 22nd year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.