ITV1's flagship daytime show This Morning is to expand its existing studio to create a new interactive zone called ‘The Hub’.
Fresh for the new series that starts Monday 6th September viewers will be able to engage and become a more vital part of the show than ever before. Following the success of This Morning’s 2009 re-launch when HOLLY WILLOUGHBY joined PHILLIP SCHOFIELD to co-host the show, ratings and website traffic have increased significantly year on year, making This Morning one of ITV’s most popular sites.
The Hub will form a key element to the programme and offer viewers a voice and chance to get involved in daily news discussions and to air their comments on all featured items and sofa guests. The new experience will be hosted by familiar and new faces to ITV as COLEEN NOLAN makes her This Morning return to host The Hub every Monday and Tuesday whilst continuing her role on Loose Women. ITN’s Entertainment reporter SAMANTHI JAYAWARDENA will host every Wednesday and Thursday while MATT JOHNSON, a regular contributor to This Morning’s Summer shows and host of HTV’s Entertainment Hour, will host Fridays.
Coleen said, “I am so thrilled to be returning to This Morning for such an exciting new role! I can't wait to join Phillip and Holly and the rest of the team for what I know will be great fun.”
Each host will present live from The Hub keeping Phillip, Holly, Eamonn and Ruth updated on viewer reactions throughout the show and explaining how to engage via all media platforms including phone services, text, email, online contributions – including Facebook and Twitter – and Skype.
Phillip said of the new plans, “We've been kept up to date regarding all new ideas including new This Morning 'family' members joining and the very exciting studio changes - I feel that this series could be our best ever.”
This Morning’s online unique website users have grown 57% year on year, with video views up by 180% and to meet such demand, the programmes website www.itv.com/thismorning will be re-launching this series to coincide with the start of the new Hub studio. The site will not only give viewers the opportunity to interact with the show, but they will now be able to talk directly to presenters via their online blogs. It will also provide exclusive backstage video content, and viewers will be able to shop online for This Morning’s latest home, garden and cookware products. This Morning partnered with Meyer, Turner Bianca, and Thompson & Morgan earlier this year to launch a range designed to ‘make life a little easier’.
Helen Pendlebury, Senior Editor for ITV.com said, “Interactivity has really evolved on This Morning over the last year, with viewers demanding deeper ways of engaging with the show, such as our Virtual Choir, and our live Cook Ins, where viewers cooked along in real time with Gino D’Acampo via Skype, direct from their kitchens. With the new site and The Hub, we can offer viewers even more ways to get involved. We’ll also have online shopping, discount vouchers and offers, online competitions and much more content from presenters and experts than ever before. Our recently launched Style & Beauty blog proves that we’re now much more than a programme website – we’re an immersive online magazine where viewers can engage with the brand any time they like.”
Adam Vandermark, Editor of This Morning said, “The Hub is an exciting development for This Morning and will advance how the show already interacts with its viewers. Their messages, questions and views will be heard during discussions on topical debates or surveys we take. Viewers can also express their feelings or tips on fashion, beauty and cooking – and even decide what’s in the show that day too! Should Gino cook pasta or tiramisu? The viewers can decide! This series will definitely see a level of interactivity not seen on the programme before.”
This Morning’s Executive Producer, Karl Newton added, “For a show that has been on air for 21 years the challenge is always developing and evolving it. So for this series we are introducing The Hub, where we can tap into what the viewer is saying and thinking about the show as and when it happens and provide the viewers immediate response. We are absolutely committed to viewer interaction and we want the viewer to be as much a part of the show as anybody who works on it. It’s fantastic that after many years Coleen Nolan returns to the famous set alongside the new talent we are committed to developing on This Morning.”
THIS MORNING is live each weekday at 10.30am – 12.30pm on ITV1. THIS MORNING: Saturday and THIS MORNING: Sunday is on at 11.30am on ITV1. From 6th September visit the new website www.itv.com/thismorning for more information.
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