ITV (LSE: ITV) might be reluctant to monetise its flagship TV content through YouTube but Channel 4 has no such concerns - it’s has signed a cross-platform sponsorship deal that mean its Lucozade Energy ads around the forthcoming Big Brother series, starting Thursday, will also go as pre-roll ads and banners on YouTube’s official Big Brother YouTube channel.

SEE ALSO: Broadcasters Test Pre-Roll Ads On YouTube Clips

It’s exactly the sort of deal that eluded ITV during its recent Britain’s Got Talent series: the company failed to cash in on Susan Boyle’s epic I Dreamed a Dream rendition despite it becoming the fastest-growing viral video of all time. ITV managed to extend its key BGT sponsor Dominos to its ITV.com videos, but not to syndicated video sites

YouTube has, though, got BBCWW, Channel 4, National Geographic, ITN and Discovery (NSDQ: DISAB) to trial pre-roll ads. YouTube UK says: “It’s the first time a TV sponsor is also sponsoring the same show’s content on YouTube.”