Amazon to sponsor The Great British Bake Off 2018

Channel 4 today announced that Amazon will be the new broadcast sponsors of The Great British Bake Off for 2018.

The sponsorship includes the ninth series of The Great British Bake Off when judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood alongside presenters Sandi Toksvig OBE and Noel Fielding return to TV screens later this year; Bake Off: An Extra Slice hosted by Jo Brand; the festive episodes; and for the first time in its brand new home on Channel 4, Bake Off: The Professionals presented by comedian Tom Allen and popular baker from the last series of Bake Off, Liam Charles who join judges and celebrated pastry chefs, Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin.

Channel 4’s sales house 4 Sales, alongside Rufus, Initiative’s dedicated Amazon team were responsible for brokering the sponsorship, which will focus on Amazon’s Echo speakers and the capabilities of the Alexa voice service.

Jonathan Lewis, Head of Digital and Partnership Innovation at Channel 4, said: “It’s a great testimony to the success of Bake Off’s debut on Channel 4 last year that Amazon will sponsor the Bake Off programme brands this year. We’re looking forward to working with Amazon as we build towards the launch of one of the biggest TV events of the year.”

Last year’s The Great British Bake Off final drew a consolidated audience of 10.0 million viewers and a 36.9% share of audience per episode – rising to 11 million viewers with the addition of linear repeats – making it Channel 4’s biggest audience ever since the current system of measurement began in 2002.

Across the series each episode of The Great British Bake Off drew a consolidated audience of 9.0 million viewers and a 33.8% share of audience per episode – rising to 10.5m viewers with the addition of linear repeats.

The Great British Bake Off was also the biggest series for young audiences on any channel last year averaging 2.6m viewers/54.5% share of audience per episode.