Ten is to step up the amount of brand funded programs on its channels after signing a deal with Context Media to explore new opportunities for marketers and to bring new revenue to the troubled network.

The agency, which specialises in content creation, will help Ten muscle in on the growing desire for advertisers to align and integrate their brands with TV shows, and to create content.

Ten estimates the TV branded content market in Australia is worth some $200m and is “growing rapidly”.

Context Media directors Brian Gallagher and Peter Jenetsky will work with Ten’s creative solutions division, Generate, to develop content across its main channel, Eleven, One and digital platforms.

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Ten chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey said it was too early to discuss the type of content it would focus on but said possibilities would be examined across a “wide range of genres”.

“In an increasingly cluttered and fragmenting media environment, television still stands as the most effective and engaging mass-market medium,” she said.

“But we know that marketers are looking for new ways to reach and engage with consumers via television and online. Their interest in branded content is growing and we are responding to that with a highly creative, flexible and nimble offering.”

She said it would work with Generate and Context Media on the “off-Broadway” parts of its schedule.

The move comes shortly after a panel discussion at BEfest, the Festival of Content Marketing and Branded Entertainment, heard how brands and TV producers must work closer together to ensure branded content is successful. Too often the two parties do not understand the needs of the other.

Nine’s director of content and brand integration at Nine, Lizzie Young, also described TV content marketing as a “specialised field” which few people have the skills to handle.

Ten chief sales officer Louise Barrett said Gallagher possessed such skills having pioneered the content marketing sector and creating “more hours of branded content than any other person in Australia”.

“We are very excited to be working with Context Media to create new, innovative content for marketers and to open up new revenue streams for Network Ten,” she said.

Gallagher, who was previously CEO of Ignite Media Brands, added: “This partnership is about developing sustainable, long-term models which help broaden Ten’s offer to advertisers and capitalise on Ten’s massive storytelling ability across all of its platforms.

“Ten is a driver of the expanding branded content marketplace. It recognises the importance of doing business beyond the 30-second paradigm and we’re delighted to have been able to form this innovative partnership with them.”

Steve Jones