The broadcaster ITV has agreed to invest up to £3m into the health and fitness app The Body Coach, created by Joe Wicks, who shot to fame by getting people exercising in their living rooms during the Covid pandemic.
It is the latest deal made through the group’s media for equity investment fund ITV AdVentures Invest. As part of the agreement, The Body Coach will advertise on ITV’s channels and its video platform ITVX.
Wicks launched the app in late 2020, capitalising on the prominence gained during the Covid-19 lockdowns when he streamed daily workout videos online. It offers personalised workout plans, alongside a range of healthy recipes and access to a online group to keep users motivated.
The app’s TV commercial will launch on ITV on 1 January and will be broadcast during commercial breaks during a show fronted by Joe Wicks on ITV1 and ITVX.
The announcement comes at a challenging time for ITV and other public service broadcasters, weeks after US media company Comcast, which already owns Sky, began talks to buy ITV’s broadcasting business.
Comcast bought Rupert Murdoch’s Sky for £30bn in 2018 and also owns assets including Universal Studios.
The talks have raised concerns about the future of news provision in the UK, at a time when traditional broadcasters are facing an existential threat as audiences and revenues move to streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix and global digital companies such as Meta and Google.
Wicks said: “I never imagined when I started my bootcamps in the park over 12 years ago that The Body Coach would grow into a brand reaching millions of people.”
He said the partnership with ITV would allow him to “bring a positive, supportive message about health and wellbeing into millions of homes at a time when people need it most”.
The fitness and nutrition specialist has previously been turned into an animation as part of a collaboration with Studio AKA, which makes the children’s TV series Hey Duggee, to create five-minute workout videos for kids.
ITV launched its AdVentures Invest programme in 2021 to enable the broadcaster to take minority stakes in early stage digital and direct-to-consumer businesses, alongside venture capital investment, in return for advertising across ITV’s channels. This is aimed at helping consumer businesses to build scale through TV advertising.
The broadcaster has previously invested in the online estate agent Strike, which trades as Purplebricks, the furniture price comparison website ufurnish.com and the location app what3words.
