Premier Foods is throwing a £1.6m TV sponsorship deal behind Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate.
The manufacturer will be backing the fourteenth series of ITV’s Heartbeat this autumn. It will be the first time the show has had a sponsor since Yorkshire Tea’s three-year deal expired in 2001.
Heartbeat is a Sunday night favourite with the last series attracting an average audience of 9.8 million viewers. It is ITV’s most popular long-running drama.
Jamie Crofts, Cadbury marketing manager at Premier, said: “Heartbeat gives us a fabulous opportunity to communicate our brand.”