Two juggernauts of Saturday nights are joining forces tomorrow as National Lottery operator Allwyn announces that Lotto, the nation’s most loved millionaire-maker game, is sponsoring one of ITV’s biggest and best loved shows – Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (SNT).

The new partnership between The National Lottery and ITV Commercial, which launches on 24 February during the first Saturday Night Takeaway show of the new season – airing Saturdays at 7pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player – is the latest strand of activity from the all-new ‘Will you be next?’ Lotto campaign. ITV is using the new Lotto campaign’s assets –which show normal people, in normal places becoming millionaires – but with an SNT twist.

ITV Creative is adapting the Lotto assets to create SNT- personalised idents that tap into the gamification element of both Lotto and SNT, capturing the fun of play and bringing the sponsorship to life for SNT viewers. Set in everyday places – such as a chippy, cinema or corner shop – the idents build anticipation and ask viewers to guess who could be about to have ‘an unforgettable night’.

Running up until 13 April, viewers will see 12 x 10-second clips across every 90-minute SNT show and will hear the familiar voice of British comedian Josh Pugh – who also voiceovers the main Lotto ‘Will you be next?’ campaign – as he picks out potential winners from the various everyday settings.

Allwyn’s Brand and Marketing Director, Steve Parkinson, said: “SNT is a superstar of Saturday night TV and, through this new sponsorship, it will bring Lotto to a huge UK TV audience each Saturday for three months. This was the perfect fit for Lotto because there’s so much shared territory between Lotto and SNT – with games and play at their core. The partnership also builds on the new Lotto ‘Will you be next?’ campaign that we launched earlier this month and which heralds an exciting new era for Lotto and The National Lottery.”

Bhavit Chandrani, Director of BE Studio from ITV said: "The new ‘Will you be next?’ campaign from Lotto aligns perfectly with Saturday Night Takeaway. Both brands are about play, prizes and fun and will deliver the perfect Saturday night of entertainment for viewers."

The new partnership comes as part of Allwyn’s new marketing strategy, which focuses on attracting new players and showcasing The National Lottery’s individual games. Over the course of its 10-yearlicence, Allwyn’s overarching ambition is to offer more games, attract more players, inject more entertainment, create more winners and raise more money for National Lottery-funded projects.

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