Despite the decrease in viewing experienced across Free to Air TV, integrated sponsorship still commands a premium and demand is high.

Multi-screening and catch-up TV are becoming more prevalent in viewing behaviour resulting in diminishing attention and ad space around broadcast losing value.

Brands are pushing harder than ever before for true ‘in show’ integration to try and ensure there message is seen. Broadcast sponsorship is still the primary way that brands are able to access ‘in show’ coverage and ensure they are able to access quality TV inventory. This has resulted in the sponsorship space becoming more crowded especially with the bigger ‘tent pole’ programs.

Networks continue to be very protective of show IP and ownership of content is limited, even if co-created, making it harder for brands to extract value.

Beyond the video, McDonald’s joked with the audience, made fun of themselves and the fans. We took some of the strangest fan posts and gave them pride of place on the site so that everyone could enjoy them.

As a result of this positive interaction, we developed an ‘always on brand love’ content strategy. The sole purpose of this social content is to drive brand love (like the film) and is an ongoing campaign, without a product focus, to generate positive conversations about McDonald’s.

Sponsorship research:

­ McDonald’s achieved the highest sponsor awareness score out of a total of 7 other sponsors*

­ Viewer favourability for the brand increased by +4%

­ Viewer consideration for the brand increased by +9%

­ Purchase intent amongst viewers increased by +6%

­ 61% of viewers associated McDonalds with Fan Factor and X-Factor

Social metrics:

­ 261,594 views of The Fan Factor content

­ 2.9 million Facebook engagements

­ 3.22 minutes of content watched by each unique browser

­ Announcement of the wildcard was the highest reaching sponsor Facebook post of the series with a reach of 318,848**