Branded content up for TV award

MARKETING COMMS NEWS BITE: The new series of Alan Partridge starring Steve Coogan is up for a gong at this year’s South Bank Show Awards, which is interesting because the comedy show was funded and hosted by Fosters.

It’s an example of the emerging phenomenon of ‘branded content’ where brands, rather than doing a deal with a TV network to sponsor one of their shows, commission a programme maker direct to make exclusive content for them, which is usually then hosted on the brand’s own website utilising YouTube’s streaming technology. By hosting the content online the sponsor can have much more overt branding that if they funded a show on a conventional TV network that is governed by OfCom rules.

It’s the first time a piece of so called branded content has been nominated for an award alongside conventional TV shows. The Fosters-owned programme will compete with the BBC shows ‘Rev’ and ‘Getting On’ for the comedy award at Melvyn Bragg’s annual awards show, which takes place on 25 Jan.

Posted Wednesday December 8 2010 by Chris Cooke