ITN Launches Christmas Channel On Youtube And Iphone

ITN On, the multimedia arm of ITN, is spreading Christmas cheer and goodwill with the launch of the first official Christmas channel on YouTube, and as a free app on the iPhone. Launching today, ITN On is producing over 200 pieces of professional content between now and early January to get the digital community into full swing for the festive season.

Encapsulating the spirit of Christmas, there truly is something for everyone. Backed by The Jerusalem Trust and Jerusalem Productions, both part of The Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, ITN On is producing a vast range of original content for the channel. Subjects covered include Cooking, Toys, the meaning of Christmas, Pantomimes and TV, as well as festive themed programming around ITN On's existing content which includes news, entertainment, video gaming, music and books.

Amongst other items, the channel will feature 'How to' guides on topics such as wrapping and decoration, Christmas parties do's and don'ts as well as featuring expert toy reviews by children. In addition, the site will carry original television content made available by Jerusalem Productions, but shown online for the first time. This will include Xmas Files, a one-off animation first broadcast in 1999 on Five, and A Small Miracle, a children's animation first screened on ITV on Christmas Eve 2002.

Mark Browning, Commercial Director of ITN On said: "This collaboration illustrates how organisations like Jerusalem Productions can engage audiences directly in the digital space by partnering with ITN On. With their support we can try out a whole host of exciting new video ideas developed by our in-house team of creatives. Through our relationship with YouTube and our success with existing iPhone apps, we look forward to generating millions of views from this set of originally commissioned content this Christmas."

"It is important that Christmas and its significance are being marked in this new way, this is a really exciting development for Jerusalem Productions" added Bridget Cass, Director of Jerusalem Productions.

The ITN Christmas channel builds on ITN On's six other successful channels on YouTube which cover news, showbiz, music, books, video gaming and extreme content. ITN On's news and showbiz channels are two of the most popular channels on the site and cumulatively all six channels attract an average of 25m million views a month. ITN's news and showbiz apps rank high on the free apps charts on iTunes and generate over 3.5m page impressions a month.

Visit the ITN Christmas Channel on YouTube here.