Abstract:

Britain has had commercial TV for almost forty years. The ’bargain’ with viewers - free TV for spot advertising - works well for Advertisers, and Research shows is very acceptable to viewers. Five years ago the commercial Broadcasters were allowed unilaterally to change the ’bargain’ by introducing Broadcast Sponsorship. Research has played an integral part in supporting and enhancing this liberalization of the rules which have permitted Broadcast Sponsorship. To do this, and thus satisfy both the Regulators and the Broadcasters themselves, we have had to monitor the views of the viewers over this period. At the same time research has been used to satisfy would be sponsors that sponsorship offered them a valuable communication tool, and one that could generate significant incremental revenue for the Broadcasters. We now have a fast growing £20+ million a year business, one which is likely to grow to several times that size over the coming few years. A variety of research techniques have been used. This has been the largest single research programme ever carried out by ITV.