August 12, 2005 - by Katie Chatfield
2005 Return on Investment Awards
This article is posted in AGENCY
August 4, 2005 - by Katie Chatfield
Big Brother ROI
| First Published In: B&T Magazine Date: August 24, 2005 |
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Falling audience numbers for the finale of Network Ten's reality juggernaut, Big Brother, coupled with controversy over the crude behaviour of its participants hasn't stemmed the enthusiasm from sponsors, with preliminary reports indicating positive results and plans already underway for a sixth series.
Media agency Bellamy Hayden's Phil Hayden, representing GlaxoSmithKline's Nicabate and Yum Restaurants' KFC, said while ROI data is still some weeks away from release, the success the Nicabate brand experienced last year encouraged it to recommit as a sponsor for the fifth series.
"We had an outstanding result last year, with a year-on-year sales increase of over 50% during the three-month period we sponsored Big Brother," Hayden said.
And it seems Ten is optimistic about the program's future, announcing its return next year, with sponsorship renewal discussions expected to begin soon.
This has been despite the fact that audience numbers for the Big Brother 'Final Eviction' and 'Winner Announced' shows last Monday night have fallen sharply compared to the previous year.
It experienced a 17% fall, from 2.2 million viewers to 1.8 million for the final eviction show and a 23% fall, from 2.9 million viewers to 2.2 million for the announcement of the series winner.
Group director at Zenith Media, Procter & Gamble's media planning and buying agency, Allan Griffiths, said the fall in total viewers was not a concern as the show remained as popular as ever in the 18-35 market targeted by Procter & Gamble brands Clairol and Pringles which sponsored the program.
"They're not final figures, but sales have been up there with record numbers for Pringles," he said.
Griffiths said the only concern in sponsoring Big Brother was the level of "risquéness" inherent in the show. But he argued that as long as the brand's target market fitted with the 18-35-year-old audience typically attracted by Big Brother, there was unlikely to be a problem.
He also said Procter & Gamble had made the decision not to be involved with the highly criticised Big brother Uncut, in an effort to protect its brands from the negative publicity attracted by the adults-only spin-off.
KFC took the same step, and Yum Restaurants' chief marketing officer, David Ovens, said he felt consumers were able to differentiate between the late-night and primetime versions of the show.
Ovens said he would not discuss exact figures, but confirmed the show "delivered us sales growth in line with our targets."
He also said falling viewer figures for the reality series were not of concern as KFC's target market was still tuning in.
"Our target is under 30 and female skewed, and in that sense [Big Brother] has been even more successful than last year," he said.
Brand Behaviour founder, Karl Treacher, said many of the food brands associated with the show are likely to be unaffected by any controversy associated with Uncut.
"KFC and Pringles...have never really tried to be particularly meaningful...so I'd expect that their involvement with the show will be successful, because it's really just exposure for exposure's sake," he said.