The world’s newest executive travel TV show, Wayfarer, has debuted on Sky News Business Channel in Australia.

Wayfarer, which is produced by The Intermedia Group (TIG) and Big Un Limited (ASX:BIG), is now being broadcast after BIG entered into a partnership agreement with Australian News Channel Pty Ltd (ANC) to broadcast the series.

The first episode of Wayfarer was broadcast in prime time at 7:30pm last night (Jan 30) on Sky News Business Channel (Foxtel channel 602) and will be broadcast for eight weeks featuring eight 30 minute episodes.

The first episode can be seen here: http://wayfarer.travel/wayfarer-sky-news-series-01-episode-01-london/

The episodes feature seven destinations that were filmed on location around the world over the past 12 months.

The episode line-up includes:
-London (part one): January 30
-New York: February 6
-Paris: February 13
-Los Angeles: February 20
-Singapore: February 27
-Berlin: March 6
-Hawaii: March 13
-London (part two): March 20

WAYFARER EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SHOW
Big Review TV designed and began on-location filming of a behind the scenes guide to executive travel in mid-December 2016 using the company’s international film crews and James Wilkinson, HM magazine Editor-In-Chief  and Time Out Australia Travel Editor as its host.

To date, the company has filmed executive travel guides in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, Singapore and Hawaii with further destinations scheduled for filming this year.

The show format is designed to appeal to business travellers and feature the best places to eat, stay and play and allows for integrated sponsorship.

As part of the joint venture with TIG, the company announced its first sponsors of Wayfarer content, British Airways and Marriott International, earlier this year.

Commenting on BIG’s growth strategy and its relationship with The Intermedia Group, Richard Evertz, CEO, Big Unlimited, said: “An effective growth strategy hinges on collaboration with like-minded players in key industry sectors.

“This latest arrangement with ANC has evolved directly through BIG’s relationship with TIG and working together to pursue mutually beneficial opportunities. I would like to thank the team at TIG for their part in today’s announcement.”

SKY NEWS BUSINESS CHANNEL DISTRIBUTION
The agreement with ANC includes re-runs of each episode both during the week and on weekends, meaning each episode will be broadcast over a dozen times.

ANC will also distribute and promote the Wayfarer episodes digitally via skynews.com.au and its international service Australia Channel.

Kylie Merritt, Commercial Director, ANC, said: “Our partnership with BIG/TIG to broadcast Wayfarer meets the demand from our C-Suite audience (executives) for high quality travel content.

“James Wilkinson has been a long-term contributor to Sky News Business and we are excited to see more of him on our screens in the world’s great business cities.”

Sky News Business is Australia’s only 24-hour business channel featuring Australia’s best finance experts covering the top stories with LIVE rolling analysis of the trading day and ASX data.

Australian News Channel operates the Sky News channels including Sky News Live, Sky News Business, Sky News Weather, Sky News Multiview, A-PAC Australia’s Public Affairs Channel, Sky News New Zealand and Australia Channel catering for international audiences.

DEMAND FOR VIDEO CONTENT
Both Facebook and Apple are actively seeking video content for their platforms with Apple allegedly planning to spend in excess of $1 billion budget on original video. (Source: Variety August 2017) Facebook are also actively seeking original content providers and will pay as much as $250,000 for shows plus offer 55% of its advertising revenue share (Source: LA Times May 2017).

BIG recently announced the sponsorship of its Wayfarer Executive Travel branded content by British Airways and Marriott International in August of this year. The Company’s partnership with ANC is anticipated to be one of many similar arrangements with third party broadcasters.

Sonia Thurston, CCO, Big Un Limited, said: “The agreement with ANC is a key milestone for the company in many ways. It validates the BIG business model, our content strategy, the quality of our video content and provides us with huge targeted distribution and therefore greater SME engagement, advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

“The agreement also promotes and champions the BIG brand within the business community and to the general public. We’re looking forward to a long and collaborative relationship with Australian News Channel.”

James Wilkinson

Editor-In-Chief, Hotel Management