Aldi enters TV cooking space

Supermarket chain Aldi has signed up to its first TV cooking show sponsorship deal as the German retailer escalates its market share fight with local behemoths Coles and Woolworths.

Aldi will feature its pantry on Channel Seven’s new production, Hell’s Kitchen, hosted by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White.

White is a former guest judge on rival Ten Network program, MasterChef, which has had a partnership deal for the past nine years with Coles.

Aldi’s deal with Hell’s Kitchen follows its sponsorship of Nine Network renovation show, The Block, in 2015.

The discount retailer has stepped up its media strategy, with new a branding campaign launched in May adding to sponsorship of kids’ soccer.

In May Aldi said it had almost 10 per cent of Australia’s $80 billion plus supermarket sector.

In the past 12 months, Aldi has also increased its range by about 100 new products and spent more than $75 million on lowering grocery prices during the first months of 2017.

More recently, the German giant signed up to the Australian Government’s voluntary Tax Transparency Code (TTC).

The discount supermarket retailer said it has ‘consistently maintained an open and positive working relationship with the Australian Taxation Office,’ and that since achieving profitability in the Australian market, has paid on average 31 per cent of pre-tax profits to the ATO.