Ad-Funded Entertainment: Small Biz Lessons for 2026

Six Saturday-night episodes. Around six million viewers. More than 345,000 people registered to play along at home. And 240,000 opted in to follow-up marketing, including 80,000 new contacts.

That’s what People’s Postcode Lottery achieved with ITV through Win Win—a prime-time, advertiser-funded game show that blended entertainment with brand storytelling while working inside strict gambling-style advertising rules.

Most small businesses hear that and think: That’s big-brand stuff. Not for me. I disagree. The format is expensive, sure. The principles are not. And those principles map surprisingly well to the “Climate Change & Net Zero Transition” conversation—because the fastest way to get everyday people to change habits (switch suppliers, try low-carbon products, choose reuse over replace) is to make the action feel rewarding, social, and simple.

This post breaks down what happened in the ITV partnership, why it worked, and how UK small businesses can copy the mechanics on a budget—especially if you sell sustainable products, run a local service business, or need more leads for a greener offer.

Why ad-funded programming is back (and what it signals)

Ad-funded entertainment is back because broadcasters need appointment-to-view moments, and brands need attention they can’t buy with standard ads. Linear TV audiences have declined, viewing is fragmented, and even strong media plans struggle to create shared cultural moments. Broadcasters are responding by inviting brands to help fund programming that audiences actually choose to watch live.

People’s Postcode Lottery’s show was designed around interactivity. Viewers at home could play along live and access the same prizes available in the studio. That matters because interactivity changes the job of marketing from “interrupt” to “participate.”

For small businesses, this is the big takeaway:

• Attention is earned through involvement, not exposure.
• Live moments beat passive impressions when you need action (sign-ups, enquiries, trials).
• A strong format is a lead engine if you’ve built a simple path from “I’m watching” to “I’m in.”

In net zero terms, it’s the difference between telling people to reduce carbon and giving them a fun, clear challenge that makes the low-carbon choice feel like a win.

The People’s Postcode Lottery case: what actually drove results

The show worked because it delivered three things at once: trust at scale, a reason to engage now, and a value exchange that didn’t feel like advertising.

A few specifics from the campaign:

• The show ran for six Saturday-night episodes.
• Viewers saw contestants win up to £20,000, with a nominated charity receiving the same amount.
• The finale included a £1m prize.
• Reported reach: around six million viewers across the run.
• 345,000+ registrations via ITV/STV microsite.
• 240,000 opt-ins to follow-up marketing, including 80,000 new contacts.
• Brand metrics (reported by the brand): consideration up 8%, first-choice consideration up 7%, and overall brand perception up 8%.

That last line is easy to skim past, but it’s crucial: the brand framed this as a brand investment, not a direct-response sales tactic. I’m with them. When you’re trying to shift behaviour (whether it’s buying a lottery ticket or choosing lower-carbon options), you need both:

1. Brand trust (people believe you)
2. Frictionless action (people can do something right now)

The “gambling brand” constraint made the strategy sharper

People’s Postcode Lottery is treated as a gambling brand, which meant tighter restrictions on how directly it could integrate product messaging. That forced a more careful approach: the show had to stand on its own as entertainment and still deliver brand value.

Small businesses face a similar constraint, just in a different form:

• you can’t outspend competitors,
• you don’t have endless creative resources,
• you don’t get infinite chances to earn trust.

Constraints aren’t a disadvantage if they push you to build a better experience.

The small business translation: “Make your marketing playable”

You don’t need a TV studio to use gamification—you need a clear goal, a simple mechanic, and a payoff your audience actually wants.

Gamification gets a bad name because people associate it with gimmicks. Done properly, it’s simply this:

Gamification is the use of clear rules and rewards to make an action feel satisfying enough to repeat.

For lead generation, the “action” might be: request a quote, book a consult, download a guide, or join a waitlist for an eco-friendly product.

A low-budget gamification blueprint (that still feels premium)

Here’s a structure I’ve found works for small businesses—especially those selling sustainability-led offers where trust matters:

1. Pick one behaviour you want (e.g., “book a home energy survey”, “switch to refill”, “try a bike service plan”).
2. Choose a time box (24 hours, weekend, 7 days). Short windows create momentum.
3. Make progress visible (a checklist, a progress bar, a public counter, a simple “streak”).
4. Offer a shared benefit (a charity tie-in, community donation, or local project support).
5. Build the follow-up (opt-in, reminder, and a second offer that fits the first).

People’s Postcode Lottery nailed #4 by pairing winner payouts with matched charity amounts. That does more than feel nice—it turns participation into a social good, which is a powerful driver for climate and net zero messaging.

Examples you can run in January 2026

January is perfect for challenges. People are already in “reset” mode, and businesses tied to sustainability can meet them there without sounding preachy.

• The “Heat Loss Weekend” Challenge (local trades / retrofit / insulation): book a survey by Sunday, every booking triggers a £5 donation to a local warm-bank or hardship fund.
• The “Refill 7” Challenge (retail / FMCG): bring your containers 7 days in a row, unlock a free upgrade or exclusive bundle.
• The “Commute Swap” Lottery (gyms / bike shops / local cafés): log 5 low-carbon trips in a week, get entered into a prize draw sponsored by partner businesses.
• The “Repair, Don’t Replace” leaderboard (electronics / tailoring / furniture): showcase repairs completed this month, celebrate the CO₂ saved with simple estimates, and reward participants.

The mechanic isn’t the point. The point is giving people a reason to act now, and a story they’ll tell someone else.

Partnerships like ITV’s—scaled down to local co-marketing

The ITV deal is a partnership model: one party brings audience, the other brings funding and story. Small businesses can do the same without TV—through list swaps, shared events, and co-created content.

A practical way to think about it:

• Audience partner: local newsletter, community group, venue, school/PTA, sports club, coworking space
• Credibility partner: charity, council initiative, local climate hub, repair café, community energy group
• Offer partner: another small business with a compatible audience

Your aim is to create something that feels like a “programme” even if it’s just a recurring series:

“Ad-funded programming” for small businesses (the realistic version)

• A monthly live stream (Instagram/YouTube/LinkedIn) with a simple game mechanic: polls, giveaways, mini-quizzes, live booking slots.
• A community challenge hosted by a local partner (they bring reach; you bring prizes and operational delivery).
• A mini-series of short videos with an episodic structure (3–6 parts), each ending with one clear action.

If you work in net zero-adjacent sectors—solar leads, EV charging installs, heat pumps, eco retail, sustainable travel—partnerships solve the hardest problem: trust.

Brand storytelling that doesn’t feel like a lecture (especially for net zero)

The fastest way to lose people on sustainability is to make them feel judged. The fastest way to keep them is to make the change feel normal, social, and rewarding.

Win Win was built around “joy and winning together,” and it matched prizes to charity impact. That’s a template for climate communication too:

• Show the benefit, then the impact. (Savings and comfort first; carbon second.)
• Make it social. (Community totals, shared milestones.)
• Reward participation, not perfection.

A snippet-worthy line I come back to:

If your net zero message needs a lecture to work, your offer isn’t clear enough yet.

A simple messaging framework for sustainable offers

Use this three-line structure in ads, landing pages, and social posts:

1. Personal win: “Cut your bills and make your home warmer.”
2. Social proof: “Join 214 households in [town] doing it this winter.”
3. Shared outcome: “We’ll fund one community energy workshop for every 10 bookings.”

It’s not manipulative. It’s how people make decisions.

Metrics: what to measure if you run “playable” marketing

If you only measure sales, you’ll kill good ideas too early. People’s Postcode Lottery explicitly pushed back on using sales KPIs alone for a brand investment.

For small businesses running gamified campaigns, measure in two layers:

Layer 1: Engagement that predicts future leads

• Registration/opt-in rate
• Cost per email/SMS subscriber
• Completion rate of the challenge
• Live attendance (or replay completion)

Layer 2: Lead quality and revenue

• Booking rate from participants
• Quote acceptance rate
• Average order value from participants vs non-participants
• Time-to-convert

One clean rule: if the campaign grows your owned audience (email/SMS) at a sustainable cost, it’s building an asset. That asset reduces your paid media costs over time—handy when budgets are tight.

Next steps: build your “mini-series” in 14 days

The reality? You can pilot this quickly. Pick one offer, one partner, one mechanic, and run it as a two-week test.

• Days 1–2: define the behaviour and reward
• Days 3–5: build the landing page + opt-in
• Days 6–9: create 3–5 short pieces of content (episode format)
• Days 10–14: run the campaign, publish daily updates, and follow up fast

If you’re working in the climate change and net zero transition space, this approach does something most marketing fails to do: it turns “we should” into “I did.”

The question to sit with is simple: what would your customers happily play along with—if the prize was a better life and a lighter footprint?