Britain's Got Talent's ITV future confirmed
ITV will keep broadcasting Britain's Got Talent until at least 2028.
Britain's Got Talent have agreed a £120 million deal to stay with ITV until 2028.
Simon Cowell and production partners at Fremantle have signed a new contract to take the long-running talent show past its 20th anniversary next year, and the agreement will also see another Champions special - which sees the best acts from the ...Got Talent franchise around the world compete - next year.
A source told The Sun newspaper's TV Biz column: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the show, which celebrated the best week of overnight ratings for this series at the weekend.
“It also proved TV execs are looking beyond traditional viewing figures when making strategic decisions.
“Shows like Strictly have seen live viewing figures decline in recent years.
“They haven’t seen that compensated by viewers switching to other ways of watching, whereas BGT’s figures for streaming and on platforms such as YouTube have gone through the roof.”
Britain's Got Talent: The Champions was last staged in 2019, with dancers Twist and Pulse taking the crown in front of 10,000 fans at Wembley Arena.
It is expected Simon and fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and newcomer KSI will keep their places on the panel for the future series.
Alesha recently reflected on how being a judge on BGT feels like being part of a "dysfunctional family".
Speaking to Ben Shephard and Angela Scanlon on This Morning, Alesha said of when she first signed up for the show: "Amanda phoned me up and said, 'Right, we're going to get together,' and we made a pact to always have each other's backs and to be role models.
"We've both got daughters, we both have strong female friendships. You know how important those female friendships are.
"I think from day one we just connected, and our friendship has really grown.
"We did laugh, actually, because last year was the first time we'd been away together on a girls' trip.
"Well, our children were there.
"We get together and do dinners and we talk all the time, but I love her.
"She's a girls' girl. There's never a dull moment when Amanda is around."
Alesha also has a close bond with fellow BGT judge Simon Cowell, and praised him as a "great guy".
She added: "We were born on the same day, so we're Libran. Very competitive.
"I love him, what a great guy. He's just so funny, so naughty.
"We're so lucky we've got this great chemistry, and over the years that has built and built.
"We are a very dysfunctional family at this point."
