For the past several years YTV has been leveraging its expertise in the youth market to produce well-targeted commercial spots for its advertising partners.

Now the specialty channel is making it official. Corus Entertainment-owned YTV has christened its commercial production division Pester Productions and has announced that it will soon begin to cultivate its own roster of directors.

Tim Cormick, director of co-marketing, Corus Entertainment, television, says developing a separate commercial division is the logical evolution for YTV, which produces programming, Web-based products and has a well-respected research arm.

‘We’ve always got our antenna up for what’s working for kids. That would be our main point of difference,’ he says.

Pester is currently working with beverage manufacturer Ocean Spray to launch its kid-directed Crantastic product. The 30-second CGI spot, directed by Chris Marshall, will break Dec. 10. Copywriting and other creative are being done in-house.

The launch of Pester comes even as MTV in the U.S. has announced that it is closing its three-year-old commercial production arm due to corporate downsizing.

But according to Cormick, Pester’s unique focus on the youth market will allow it to compete in the Canadian market.

‘What makes sense here is that more and more it’s about being multimedia or multiplatform. It works well when a client and an agency work with us on a full plan,’ says Cormick.

In addition to broadcast spots, Pester will also offer Web design services.

-www.pesterproductions.com