BigShinyThing

So says Evan Shapiro, executive vice president of niche cable channel Independent Film Channel.

Lots has been written over the past few years about the re-emergence of Advertiser Funded Content as a force to be reckoned with the media convergent world. But few people have been doing it either well or effectively. Advertiser involvement in programme content is nothing new. The first soap operas were so-called because of the heavy advertising sponsorship from household product companies like P&G that funded their development.

But Advertising Age reports this week that a couple of niche cable networks are making lots of money out of effective advertiser funded content. In the past two years Independent Film Channel has doubled its advertising take to $10 million by fogging the line between ads and short, subtly branded films for Target, Heineken and Acura. IFC has drawn on its connections in the independent film industry to integrate brands into these short films – it doesn’t accept 30 second commercials but instead integrates sponsors into movie promos based on the supposition that trailers are the ads consumers are most interested in seeing.

Shapiro also points out that his network’s audience boasts the second highest rate of DVR ownership – he needs to TiVo-proof his commercial messages: the network doesn’t edit for content. Its tagline ‘uncut’ means not only does it not interrupt movies with ads but also that it doesn’t censor – some advertisers are falling over themselves to work with the channel.

As a result of such ventures, IFC has become perhaps the most ad-supported, non-commercial network on TV. One client is Rockstar Games, the developer of Grand Theft Auto, which sponsors promos that promote upcoming IFC films with video-game animation woven into the movie clips. Marketers are also free to repurpose the spots for other off-channel use and IFC handles all the creative production.

And the big boys are getting involved as well. Heineken was introduced to IFC via indie director Jon Favreau, who used the beer marketer in a scene in his 2001 movie Made. Heineken had been targeting independent film fans at the Sundance and Telluride film festivals and, according to Pattie Falch, promotions and sponsorships manager for the beer marketer, in the world of indie film, IFC and Heineken boast the same brand image. Heineken, in fact, now airs its 60 second IFC spots at film festivals.

This all follows a very – as BST has said before- a Give the People What They Want model. Advertisers can get on side with consumers and even get crucial credibility with key audiences by facilitating the kind of entertainment people want. In the 1950s it was soap operas, and now its independent and (hopefully) edgy film making. Advertisers need to get wise to this before their 30 seconds are up.