Branding

Brands and broadcasters must seize the time to improve diversity

(credit: Channel 4)

Covid-19 has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people in the UK to date, and almost shut down the TV airtime advertising industry. Across April and May revenues dropped by more than 50%.

Most citizens were locked down in their homes with their children homeschooled – or not – for close to four months. The world seemed to have gone mad. Worldwide, the message was to wash your hands, wear a face mask, socially distance and pretty much hope for the best.

Ad funded TV: How brands are boosting budgets

Kate Bulkley, Greg Barnett, Emily Hudd, Saj Nazir and Simon Wells (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

With programme budgets under pressure, TV is turning to advertisers to fund shows directly. And the amounts that brands can bring to the table are significant – anything up to half a million pounds for an hour of TV.

This was the message from a packed RTS early-evening event in October, at which a panel of leading commissioners, producers and advertising experts discussed how they make branded programming.

Branded content comes of age | Highlights

The highlights from our panel discussion on how the entertainment values of editorial TV content, talent and other editorial assets are being used to create more advertising and funding opportunities across the UK TV industry.

The panel included Channel 5's Commissioning Editor for Factual Entertainment, Greg Barnett, Joint Managing Director at Rumpus Media, Emily Hudd, Wavemaker's Head of Integrated Delivery, Saj Nazir and Channel 4's Controller of Funded Content, Simon Wells.

Commissioners, advertisers and producers discuss the future of ad funded TV

Greg Barnett, Saj Nazir, Kate Bulkley, Simon Wells and Emily Hudd (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

At a jam-packed RTS early evening event in late October, a panel of leading commissioners, producers and advertising experts explained how to make branded programming – and identified some of the pitfalls.

Greg Barnett, long-serving commissioning editor for factual entertainment at Channel 5, argued that the way programmes are being made is changing.