Branded content in Australia is a growing area across TV and digital platforms particularly due to the growth of video over broadband and social media.

SBS and ABC (national broadcasting channels) have major restrictions in regards to brands and integration in programs. Our domestic free to air channels have some limited restrictions, however it’s largely self-policing based on the networks opportunity to maximise revenue. There is a constant balancing act between brand involvement, quality control and program integrity.

The majority of content integration is managed via the networks rather than brands doing deals with production companies. In off peak and in subscription TV there are more opportunities for brand involvement, prime time is the most difficult to secure and is based on a number of variables; ratings and audience, being two key factors.

The “reality” genre is predominantly appearing within prime time programming and features the majority of branded integration e.g. The X Factor. Outside of prime time we are seeing brands achieving success with documentaries; sport, music, and other niche genres on the free to air digital channels.

We made the bold decision to make our very own parody style music video on the No.1 reality TV talent show; ‘The X-Factor’, to launch a premium burger to a highly engaged, yet broad audience.

Over 1.4 m tuned in to the premier of ‘Gettin’ Serious’, which launched in the semi-final night of The X-Factor. In one week, the music video had over 227,000+ views, 800+ comments and 1,000+ shares and what’s more, the behind the scenes content was viewed over 55,000 times.

The sponsorship of the X-Factor generated a huge $5.9m worth of value and more than four times the investment.

Johnny Ruffo’s song ‘Gettin’ Serious’ aired to an audience of 1.4m as the first ad in commercial airtime.

A full length version of the song was uploaded onto the Yahoo!7 online destination page, as well as McDonald’s YouTube and Facebook pages and within one week, it had achieved 227,000+ views, 800+ comments and 1,000+ shares.

The music video also stirred conversations in the media with 18 press articles published across Australia and New Zealand.

The consumer promotion and online content leading up to the music video release made the ‘Get Serious’ hub the go-to destination for X-Factor fans and resulted in:

• 10,862 entries to the competition

• 98,649 website views

• 55,514 video streams on the behind the scenes content series

But really only one result mattered. Research showed that 74%2 of X-Factor viewers had ‘purchased McDonald’s in the last 12-weeks’. We had exceeded all expectations. There is no doubt that this campaign was a ‘serious’ success!

Cite: (1) Firefly – Millward Brown Research, November 2011

(2) Network Seven, 2012