lastminute.com introduces Holiday TV to website
Free to view travel television is to be aired on lastminute.com’s website.
Footage of leading destinations such as Florida, Kenya and Dubai, with voiceover commentary can be viewed via the travel website’s ‘Holidays’ pages from today.
The partnership deal with provider Holiday TV is in direct response to the growth of broadband penetration in the UK, the company says.
Lastminute’s Head of mobile & iDTV Matt Jerwood said: “The growth of broadband penetration in the UK has meant online firms such as ours are able to introduce increasingly sophisticated technology to improve site content.
“The holiday television initiative is something we have been looking to introduce for some time, but which would have been unfeasible due to the inaccessibility of the majority of consumers before the advent of broadband.
“We are delighted to pioneer this innovative step, which can only enhance the consumer experience of booking travel online and ultimately accelerate the growth of the online leisure travel market.”
He added: “Holiday TV was a natural partner for the project, offering a high-quality video product and a shared desire to develop the wealth of site content opportunities offered by today’s superior web-access technology”.
Dave Ingram, director of Intervision, owner of Holiday TV, said: “We have looked very closely at how to develop internet TV channels and the partnership with lastminute is very significant, not just for Holiday TV, where we produce the travel programmes ourselves with our own film crews, but also for the development of the holiday market and of Internet TV in general.
“What is not generally known is that there are more people in the UK that have a good broadband video connection than have satellite TV. Some dedicated holiday TV stations on satellite or cable went out of business simply because the audience numbers no longer added up.
“Using online travel portals such as lastminute,com we are able to deliver holiday information people want, to an established audience. It’s a great partnership for both parties.”
Lastminute.com claims 1.7 million unique site visitors a week with market share of almost 30% in Europe.
Lastminute Holiday TV can be found at www.lastminute.com/holidays.
Report by Phil Davies
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