ITV Local joins fight against crime

[1 July 2008]

ITV Local is joining the hunt for Britain's Most Wanted criminals by publishing the latest crime information from Crimestoppers on its websites.

The content, which will include crime news and information relevant to the ITV Local regions*, will be the newest addition to ITV Local.com, the regional broadband service that has seen an 18% month on month rise in users since the start of the year and received one million unique users in May.

ITV Local will work closely with Crimestoppers to provide the latest crime information as well as the ‘Most Wanted' list which includes photos and descriptions of those being hunted by the police for serious crimes.

The public will be invited to upload video evidence of crimes such as vandalism, graffiti and anti-social behaviour.

As well as up-to-the-minute crime news and advice on crime prevention, the site will provide links to UK crime fighting organisations including police forces, the Home office, Neighbourhood Watch and the Office of Fair Trading.

News reports on Britain's most shocking crimes covered by the ITV regions' news teams over the past 60 years will feature on a special crime themed Video on Demand (VoD) section of the site to satisfy the growing demand for video which has surged 362% on ITV's websites, with 4million video views on ITV Local in May alone.

Lindsay Charlton, ITV Local's Director of Programming and content, said: “This is first service of its kind to bring together crime news and information relevant to specific regions and highlight the latest police campaigns, criminal scams and crime prevention techniques.

“It's another exciting step in ITV Local's ambition add even more practical value to what we offer. Users will be able to find out about crimes being committed in their own towns, cities and villages and help bring crooks to justice. It's certainly one in the eye for criminals and another example of how the internet can help improve our communities.”

Someone from Crimestoppers added: “Ever since our charity starting taking anonymous calls from the public twenty years ago, the media has played a hugely important role in helping to promote the Crimestoppers number to local communities. The internet is becoming an increasingly important platform for communications as more and more people, across all ages, have access to, and an appetite for, this medium. We are delighted to be joining forces with ITV, long-time supporters of Crimestoppers, in providing local information about crime.”

ITV Local provides a variety of services including local news, weather, sport, travel, short films, programmes, classified ads. Video is a central feature of the site and usage has risen consistently. The four regions where video has taken off the most are Meridian – 16%, Central – 15%, Anglia – 11%, London 11%.

*ITV Local regions are Border, Tyne Tees, Granada, Yorkshire, Wales, Central, Anglia, West, Thames Valley, London, West Country and Meridian.

Visit ITV Local and select your area to find the crime channel and Crimestoppers' Most Wanted appeals.

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For further information, please contact Ben Ayers from the ITV Consumer Press Office on ben.ayers@itv.com or 07841 724809.

Notes to Editors

ITV Local is part of ITV's new media division ITV Consumer which also includes itv.com, ITV Mobile, ITV Interactive and Friend's Reunited. The division was established to drive new revenue streams and offer innovative and entertaining content designed to enhance viewers' on air experience. ITV Local offers local information, news and services and has launched dedicated channels in 2008 including travel and crime. Both itv.com and itvlocal.com are primarily funded by online advertising. itv.com was re-launched in 2007 and offers more of ITV channels streamed online, plus access to further ITV programming, clips and exclusive content. Measurement of video content on itv.com uses an internal system which provides a robust measurement of video views. This has not yet been audited and we are working towards meeting industry standards for video measurement. ITV.com is continually improving its measurement systems and may in future re-define our metrics and so reserve the right to augment existing data.