LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - ITV announced an investment in Nineteen21 on Tuesday, which trades as 'ismybillfair', and operates an online service that finds "fairer" prices for household bills from a customer's current supplier, as an alternative to switching providers for various utilities.
The FTSE 100 broadcaster said the service was currently live for energy bills, with expansion plans into broadband.

It said it was acquiring a minority stake valued at £1.25m in return for advertising inventory across ITV's broadcast channels and the ITV Hub, with an option to invest a further £1.25m.

ITV said it reaches more than 40 million viewers each week through its programmes on its family of channels, as well as the ITV Hub, which is available on 35 platforms.

"Ismybillfair.com was launched by seasoned industry experts who understand the needs of both the energy providers as well as UK households so we liked this win-win proposition as soon as we heard about it," said Niko Waesche, fund manager of ITV AdVentures.

"It's an extremely useful service for British consumers and we're looking forward to bringing it to a mass audience, and helping ismybillfair.com to grow, through ITV's unique reach."

Ismybillfair co-founder and chief executive officer Alex Perrin added that people would prefer to save money with their current suppliers, and not need to go elsewhere.

"Our aim is to become the leading household brand for saving without switching," Perrin said.

"ITV reaches more households than any other commercial television group in the UK and, combined with its near-perfect match with ismybillfair's audience, we've found our ideal partner to fuel our growth."

At 0907 BST, shares in ITV were up 0.35% at 115.6p.

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