The actors in FOX’s reboot of the popular series “Baywatch,” about lifeguards and lovers, will receive assistance on land during a rescue mission at sea.
Fox has a season-long sponsorship deal with Toyota, effectively making automaker Tacoma a member of the cast. In the series, a customized Tacoma appears as the lifeguard’s official vehicle, and various “Baywatch” characters are seen using various Toyota vehicles for personal transportation. No other automaker receives such treatment in the series, and the few episodes that highlight specific Tacoma features prevent other auto advertisers from running commercials.
“The core of this opportunity is to feature their iconic vehicles on the show itself,” Katrina Kukai, Fox’s executive vice president of advertising sales and portfolio marketing, said in a recent interview. “But most importantly, they are part of the Baywatch story.”
“Baywatch” first gained attention as a series on NBC and then through syndication. For 11 years, the series has become a powerhouse of pop culture, producing stars from actors like Pamela Anderson, Nicole Eggert, David Charvet, and Yasmin Bless, with storylines as bright and sunny as its beach settings. The new series is co-produced by Fox Entertainment and Fremantle and began filming this week at the Fox Studio lot in Venice Beach and Century City, Los Angeles. Matt Nix will serve as showrunner and executive producer.
Thanks to the Madison Avenue maneuver, the car often plays the starring role in television series. For example, Ford’s F-150 played a prominent role on Fox’s “24,” and the automaker sponsored commercial-free broadcasts of the series’ season premieres for two years. Nissan enjoyed appearing on NBC’s “Heroes.” General Motors was able to include the Chevrolet Camaro as an integral part of the CBS remake of “Hawaii Five-0.” The Kiwi-green Hyundai Tucson was a prominent feature on AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” but a deal between the automaker and the network prevented the vehicle from being used to kill zombies at the center of the hit show.
However, this practice may not have become as popular in recent years. Since the coronavirus pandemic, auto advertising hasn’t flowed as smoothly in the media, with various automakers grappling with supply chain issues that prevent them from producing as many vehicles as they would like in a timely manner. Meanwhile, growing interest in electric vehicles has led many major automakers to spend more on advertising to promote many new technologies to consumers, leaving them with less money to spend on special and expensive partnerships with specific programs.
In fact, overall auto spending on TV advertising has slowed in recent years. Automakers spent $2.71 billion on national TV ads in 2023, according to iSpot, which tracks ad spending. However, in 2025, national TV spending was $2.32 billion, a decrease of approximately 14.4%.
But Baywatch offered something unique to Toyota, which has played a big role in series like Modern Family in the past. Tiffany Sydow, Toyota’s general manager of brand, cross vehicle line and media, said the automaker already supplies trucks used by lifeguards. In fact, the company is the official vehicle sponsor for Los Angeles County and Huntington Beach lifeguards. These connections mean that the “Baywatch” association may seem more authentic than others. “Diverse lifeguard communities across the country already rely on Tacoma’s power and capabilities, making Tacoma the perfect partner as Baywatch returns for a new generation,” she says.
In the past, TV networks may have pitched car companies to assign new vehicles to specific characters, said Jerry Danielo, Fox’s senior vice president of entertainment partnerships. “I feel like manufacturers and brands are moving away from character placement, maybe at some point in a 12- to 20-episode season,” he says. In the new “Baywatch,” Daniello says, “vehicles are front and center. They’re important to the storytelling. They’re part of the characters’ daily lives.”
Television networks typically announce such deals in the fall, when new programming seasons begin. Indeed, “Baywatch” won’t debut until Fox’s 2026-2027 cycle. According to Kukai, to ensure a good standing for the show and its storyline, the network needed to get the word out early and not leave such issues until the last minute. “We’ve done a really good job of exposing our programs to our partners,” Cukaj says. “We did this in a very deliberate but collaborative way.” The executive said Fox is talking to various categories of advertisers about possible deals with the program. “I’ve never seen so much inbound interest from advertisers in a show,” she says.
Toyota has already begun to set foot on the beach on behalf of the new series. A customized Toyota Tacoma with a red finish was recently spotted at a lifeguard stand installation ceremony for the show in California.
