Nice little earners

Turn on commercial television these days and the chances are that the programme you watch will be sponsored. Ofcom's review of the communications market last week identified 2003 as the crossover point when, for the first time, subscription (dominated by BSkyB) pulled in more income for television than advertising. But it also showed that "ancillary" income is the fastest growing sector.

This is programme sponsorship, phone calls - ranging from Big Brother voting to premium line win-a-holiday style competitions - and teleshopping (earning a stunning £381m from direct sales).

Income from these streams, at £981m, rose 51% in 2003, outstripping the 11% rise for subscription, and 3% for advertising. It has quadrupled in value over five years. Ofcom says: "This could point, perhaps, to a structural change in the way programmes are funded."

In the past few months, there has been a steady stream of sponsorship announcements from the merged ITV, assisted by the big media buying agencies, which now have dedicated sponsorship teams.

Cadbury's drinking chocolate will be the first ever sponsor of the next series of Heartbeat, a breakthrough because the "retro" 60s show has been notoriously difficult to place until now, despite its loyal 9.8 million audience - advertisers want modernity. Michael Parkinson's new ITV chat show was snapped up by Prudential, who saw a natural fit with the company's "straight-talking nature". Mr Muscle is to sponsor Moving Day, a show about people moving home - following on from rival Cif's successful link with How Clean is Your House?. Nokia is to sponsor The X Factor, Simon Cowell's replacement for Pop Idol, including the award ceremony next March. Emmerdale, once a Daz show, is now backed by Heinz, and is featuring salad cream this summer, with tomato sauce lined up for the winter.

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