Adam & Eve lands YouView ad account

BBC-backed video-on-demand venture YouView has appointed ad agency Adam & Eve to handle its £48.4m advertising account, after negotiations with pitch rival Clemmow Hornby Inge broke down. The venture, which has other partners including BT, Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5, has also announced the appointment of OMD to handle media planning and buying. YouView has also appointed retail marketing specialist Momentum. YouView will have a marketing budget of £48.4m for its first four years, according to figures submitted to the BBC Trust . Tim Hunt, YouView's marketing director, said that now the agency lineup has been finalised "the hard work starts now, we are all now focused on bringing YouView to life for viewers". The agencies will be responsible for coordinating the brand launch and rollout of YouView across all media by the middle of 2011. YouView had been poised to appoint CHI and was in final negotiations . But it is understood that the agency decided to withdraw from the process. It is not clear why CHI proceeded to such late stage in negotiations to before pulling out. The agency already handles the ad account for YouView partner TalkTalk. The first target market for YouView, which aims to bring video-on-demand services to Freeview and Freesat, will be the 7m Freeview households that have the broadband access needed to use the service. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".