Getting closer to content

x-factor sponsorship

Viewers love television and they can't get enough of it. According to new figures from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB), in 2010 the average TV viewer watched 28 hours, 15 minutes of live, linear TV a week (4 hours, 2 minutes a day). This is an increase of 2 hours, 4 minutes a week (18 minutes a day) on 2009 and represents an all time high in TV viewing.

TV is cultural glue: people love talking about TV, off- and online, almost as much as they love watching it. In fact, the only subjects we want to discuss more than TV are friends and family. Just a glance at the immense number of groups on Facebook dedicated to TV shows and ads, or the number of TV event Tweets out there, demonstrates its cultural importance.

Brands now have a huge range of ways to tap into this passion.

Of course the well-executed spot ad is as powerful and effective as it is primarily because it plays out in the company of great TV content. However, there is a plethora of targeted and effective ways that advertisers can get closer to the TV content people want to watch. For example:

  • Sponsorship
  • Advertiser funded programming
  • Advertorials
  • Interactive content
  • Competitions & promotions
  • Licensing
  • Televised branded events
  • Product/prop placement
  • PR

These activities offer varying degrees of involvement with programming content, but in most cases the communication strategy is dependent on the editorial values of a programme, or will have editorial-like qualities. This is sometimes referred to as 'editorial marketing'.

Association or co-creation gets to the heart of programming, and therefore the audience. The power of association is incredibly important. People's feelings for the programme rub off on the brand. We'll talk a lot more about this in our sponsorship and branded content sections.

There are innovative content-led marketing strategies to fit all sorts of brand objectives, from enhancing or reinforcing a brand image, to shifting it completely, to gaining retail listings in highly competitive market sectors or driving sales.

Although content-led initiatives can perform very well as stand-alone items, more often than not, TV content acts as hub for an incredible range of integrated activities.

The combination of TV content and brands is an area that is likely to become more and more important in a multi-platform world as the TV-related content that people want becomes easier to access or easier to share and talk about.

 

Some quick links

  • Introduction to TV Sponsorship
    TV sponsorship has evolved considerably over the last ten years or so, and is recognised as a powerful option for marketers across a wide range of campaign objectives. Today's television means that 'TV sponsorship' can range from a simple on-air association with a single programme to a vast array of integrated opportunities, off-air and across platforms. Here are some questions you may wish to ask yourself if you are considering this way of using TV, in the form a guide.
  • TV sponsorship creative: how to make it more effective
    For brands involved in well-thought through and well-executed TV sponsorships, there are huge rewards to be gained. However, success begins with the on-air creative. Here are some things we learned about the importance of this from Thinkbox's 'TV Sponsorship: a brands best friend' research, plus ten creative and executional tips from Channel4's own research findings. We've put all of this in one place to help make your on-air TV sponsorships more effective.
  • AFP & branded content
    Advertiser funded programming (AFP) or Branded Content, as it is also known, is now a recognised and effective TV vehicle for advertisers. AFP provides the opportunity for brands to participate in the phenomenon that a successful TV show can be; on air, off air and online. However, the process of getting an AFP to air can appear tricky to navigate. Here are some thoughts to help you through the woods.
  • TV sponsorship: a brand’s best friend
    Thinkbox’s pioneering research with Duckfoot uncovered the inner workings of sponsorship; revealing how and why sponsorship works and the ways in which its impact can be best measured. Sponsorship has been shown to have a significant effect on the emotional and implicit mind, with its power being generated through a brand’s association to the programme rather than its ability to communicate messages via the sponsorship bumper. For fans of the sponsored programme, the effects are profound with fame, ‘for me-ness’ brand favourability and purchase intention being raised as the viewer’s relationship with the programme content becomes stronger. Explore more of this fascinating study here…

Sponsorship & branded content

Brands are benefitting from getting closer to TV content - advertiser funded programming, branded content, competitions and promotions, events, licensing plus, of course, sponsorship - and there are opportunities on the horizon such as product placement and also around on-demand TV. These content-led commercial formats are well suited to addressing different objectives from spot advertising. Here you can get an overview of the content landscape and also find your way to more information on the bits of it that catch your eye.