Rolex becomes first sponsor on BBC.com homepage

by Alison Donnelly, Marketing 10-Mar-08, 17:30

LONDON - BBC Worldwide has chosen Rolex as its launch advertising partner for the revamped BBC.com homepage.

The partnership, which was brokered by Mindshare Interaction Worldwide, marks the first in a number of sponsorship opportunities throughout the year on BBC.com allowing Rolex to communicate with the BBC website's 28m users outside the UK.

It will also give the watch-making brand the opportunity to optimise advertising space on high traffic pages outside the UK which include news, sports and weather.

Rolex becomes the latest brand that BBC Worldwide can add to its portfolio of sponsors, which have already used the site to globally promote their brands to the BBC's international influential audience. These sponsorship deals will help deliver a new flow of income from international visitors into the BBC for investment.

Kym Niblock, managing director of BBC.com said: ‘We are delighted to be associated with such a prestigious brand such as Rolex. Advertising partnerships like these will help BBC.com deliver funds to invest in further growing the international reach of the site, and deliver revenues back to BBC.'

BBC.com has been developed in order to generate revenue for the BBC from the non-UK, non-license paying traffic to its web properties.

Developed by BBC Worldwide in conjunction with BBC Global News, the site taps into the audience that bbc.co.uk already attracts from outside of the UK. The Geo-IP technology integrated into the site allows BBC Worldwide to distinguish between UK and non-UK users and enable only non-UK users to see the advertising.