In its first ever link up, high street retailer Tesco has struck its first ever TV sponsorship deal and taken over from Shockwaves as the brand partner for Channel 4’s Album Chart Show, which is returning for a sixth series in February, produced by 3DD Productions. Tesco Entertainment, the brand name for the retailer’s online and in-store music department will sponsor the series along with a new 15-part weekly spin-off series, The Tesco Entertainment Albums to Watch [working title].Tthis 15-minute show will profile weekly album releases with a mixture of up-and-coming and established acts. The main Album Chart Show will run for 11 weeks. The first ten episodes will comprise of single artist specials highlighting some of the biggest names in music and will build on an already impressive library of shows including Lady GaGa, Kanye West, Lily Allen and The Killers. 

Head of Music at Channel 4, Neil McCallum says ''The Album Chart Show has quickly established itself as a cornerstone in our music output and has gone from strength to strength in recent years in attracting the very best a-list talent. With that in mind we look forward to launching its very own spin off show and delivering a raft of new programming across the channel 4 and 4music schedules in 2010.''

3DD’s Dominic Saville said “The show is now firmly established within the music promotional calendar and an association with a digital/retail platform like Tesco Entertainment will extend awareness of the show and of course the artists and their new material. We were pleased that the last series of show saw repeats on T4 and 4Music for a number of the artist specials and we can expect the same for this next series.”

Tesco’s Director of Entertainment, Rob Salter, explained the marketing benefits this link-up would give to realise awareness of the music available for sale both online and in their stores. “We are really pleased to be associated with Channel 4’s Album Chart Show. Our tie-up creates a close link between TV and in-store and online purchasing channels. Music is an integral part of our offer and we are committed to bringing customers the best in entertainment at a great price. Our new website, Tesco Entertainment is a great example of how we do this.“

The deal, brokered by Simon Broyd of brand partnerships agency BluePeg, will see Tesco Entertainment run a series of ticket competitions and other promotions, and the quality footage from this show will be available for streaming on the website www.tescoentertainment.com during the time of the promotion.  

The Album Chart Show continues to broadcast globally as LONDON LIVE and has now signed deals with MTV USA and Sundance in France, Benelux, Canada and Asia.

**The Album Chart Show received the KOI Lighting Design Award for 2009.

Jennifer.Bentley@3DDgroup.com

+44 20 7380 8125