Greene King has signed a £1m deal with ITV to sponsor Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Under the deal, the pub operator will get 80 seconds’ airtime in prime-time slots, as well as additional exposure on ITV2 and branding on the ITV website.

Pubs from across the Greene King estate, including former Belhaven sites, will feature in the advertisements.

Greene King is also running a £4m scratch-card promotion in its pubs to run alongside the sponsorship, with prizes including tickets to the show.

The last series of the show averaged 7.8 million viewers.

Rooney Anand, chief executive at Greene King, said: "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway attracts viewers that are a great fit with our customer base right across our portfolio of leading ale brands and pub businesses and we’re looking forward to rolling out a number of exciting initiatives to further leverage the sponsorship within our pubs."

By Daniel Thomas

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