Ad-Funded Content: Small Business Visibility on a Budget

Six Saturday nights. Around six million viewers across the run. 345,000 registrations to play along. 240,000 opt-ins to follow-up marketing (including 80,000 new contacts). Those are the kinds of numbers People’s Postcode Lottery pulled from Win Win—ITV’s biggest-ever advertiser-funded series to date.

Most small businesses will never fund prime-time entertainment. But the playbook underneath that ITV partnership is surprisingly portable: build trust at scale by funding (or co-creating) the content people actually choose to watch, then connect that attention to a measurable next step.

This matters in the UK’s Technology, Innovation & Digital Economy story because attention is now a distribution problem, not a creativity problem. Digital platforms have fragmented viewing, the tools to produce “broadcast-quality” content have become cheaper, and the best small brands are acting like publishers—without pretending they’re a TV channel.

What People’s Postcode Lottery’s ITV deal really proves

The core lesson is simple: content partnerships can outperform traditional ads when the format creates participation, not just exposure.

People’s Postcode Lottery partnered with ITV to produce Win Win, a prime-time game show hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. Contestants competed for prizes up to £20,000 (with a nominated charity receiving the same), and the finale included a £1m win. The clever part wasn’t just the prizes—it was the interactive design.

Viewers at home could play along live, going after the same prizes as the people in the studio. That interactivity created “appointment-to-view” behaviour at a time when linear TV viewing is harder to achieve.

Two more details small businesses should clock:

1. The investment was treated as brand building, not a direct-response campaign. The brand’s managing director, David Pullan, is explicit about not judging it by sales KPIs alone.
2. Regulatory constraints forced creativity. As a gambling brand, they couldn’t integrate product messaging in the same way other advertisers might—so the show had to deliver value without heavy-handed placement.

That’s “big brand behaviour”: choosing a format that signals confidence and credibility, while still capturing measurable engagement.

Ad-funded programming for small businesses: the modern equivalent

For a local business, “ad-funded programming” usually looks like creator partnerships, community-led series, or sponsored micro-content—built for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, newsletters, or even local digital publishers.

The point isn’t to copy TV. The point is to borrow three mechanisms:

1) Distribution: borrow someone else’s audience

ITV already has reach and habit. Small businesses can do a similar thing by sponsoring a local creator or niche publisher with an established audience.

Examples that work in the UK:

• A café sponsors a popular local “What’s On This Weekend” Instagram series.
• A trades business sponsors a local property YouTuber’s “Renovation Mistakes to Avoid” episodes.
• A bookkeeping firm sponsors a small business podcast mini-series on cashflow planning.

You’re paying (or trading value) for access to attention that already exists—which is often cheaper than trying to manufacture attention from scratch with ads.

2) Format: build participation, not passive viewing

Win Win wasn’t only watched—it was played. Participation turns content into a habit.

Small business-friendly participation formats include:

• Live polls and “choose the next episode” votes
• Comment-to-enter giveaways (done carefully and transparently)
• Interactive quizzes (“What’s your skin type?” for salons; “Which boiler service plan fits?” for heating firms)
• Community challenges (“7-day lunch deal challenge” or “January refresh week”)

If you want a one-liner to guide your strategy:

If people can’t do something with your content, they won’t remember it.

3) Trust: align content with a bigger purpose

People’s Postcode Lottery pairs prizes with charity giving. Whether or not you can match that, the structure is powerful: entertainment + values = trust.

For small businesses, this can be:

• Featuring local charities or community projects
• “Customer stories” that show real outcomes
• Transparent behind-the-scenes content (how you price, how you source, how you train)

Trust is a growth asset in the digital economy because it lowers acquisition costs over time. When your reputation travels faster than your ads, you’re operating with real leverage—without using the word.

Gamification you can run this quarter (without looking cheesy)

Gamification works when it’s tied to genuine customer value, not gimmicks. The Win Win model offers a clean template: simple rules, clear rewards, shared experience, and a strong reason to show up live.

A practical “Win Win” template for small businesses

Use this structure for a monthly campaign:

1. One clear challenge (5–10 minutes to complete)
2. A customer prize (something you sell, or a partner prize)
3. A community “match” (donate a small fixed amount per entry to a local cause, or fund a community freebie)
4. A live moment (announce winners on a live stream, in-store event, or community WhatsApp)

Concrete examples:

• A gym: “Beat the trainer” weekly challenge + free month membership + matched donation to a local youth sports group.
• A florist: “Bouquet design vote” + winner gets the bouquet + matched donation to a hospice fundraiser.
• A barber: “Fresh trim Friday” loyalty draw for clients who book in January (seasonally smart) + free haircut for a community volunteer.

Keep it tight. Keep it honest. And make the entry action something that also helps your operations (email sign-up, booking deposit, referral, review—depending on what you can ethically request).

Partnerships that don’t require big budgets

Small businesses often avoid partnerships because they assume it means sponsorship money upfront. In practice, the most affordable collaborations look more like co-production.

Three low-cost partnership models

1) Value swap (barter) Offer products, services, venue access, or expertise instead of cash.

• Example: a restaurant provides a creator’s filming location + meal in exchange for a short episode series.

2) Revenue share If the content sells, both parties benefit.

• Example: a local retailer partners with a local YouTuber on a “seasonal essentials” video and uses a tracked code with commission.

3) Production sponsor (fixed fee, clear deliverables) Pay a smaller fixed amount to underwrite one repeatable series.

• Example: “This month’s neighbourhood guide is supported by…” plus a recurring segment your business genuinely fits.

The rule I follow: if you can’t describe the partnership outcome in one sentence, you’ll struggle to measure it.

How to measure brand-building content (without lying to yourself)

People’s Postcode Lottery reported brand lift: consideration up 8%, first-choice consideration up 7%, and overall brand perception up 8% among viewers. Small businesses usually can’t run formal brand lift studies, but you can still measure brand investment properly.

The small business measurement stack

Use a mix of leading indicators (signals of future sales) and hard conversions (sales actions).

Leading indicators (brand strength):

• Direct traffic growth to your website (week-over-week)
• Branded search growth (people searching your name)
• Social saves and shares (stronger than likes)
• Email list growth from content-specific landing pages
• “How did you hear about us?” responses mentioning the series/creator

Hard conversions (sales drivers):

• Bookings made from tracked links
• Calls from campaign-specific numbers
• Quote requests from campaign landing pages
• Voucher codes redeemed (avoid discounting if you don’t need it; use a value add)

A stance: don’t judge a content partnership in 7 days. Give it at least one full cycle (often 4–8 weeks) so word-of-mouth and repeat exposure can do their job.

What regulated industries can learn from this (even if you’re not gambling)

One reason this ITV partnership is so interesting is the constraint: People’s Postcode Lottery is treated as a gambling brand, so advertising and sponsorship rules are stricter.

Even if you’re not regulated, you probably have “soft constraints”:

• You can’t promise outcomes (health, finance, legal)
• You can’t use certain claims without evidence
• You can’t be too salesy without damaging trust

The workaround is the same: design content that’s valuable without relying on aggressive product mentions.

A financial adviser doesn’t need to shout “book a call” every 30 seconds. A consistent series that explains real decisions—ISAs, pensions, tax-year timing—will do more to earn trust than a thousand generic ads.

A simple 30-day plan to pilot your own “ad-funded” series

If you want to test this quickly, keep the scope small and repeatable.

Week 1: Pick the format and partner

• Choose one channel (YouTube, Instagram, podcast, newsletter)
• Choose one partner with an audience you actually want
• Agree 3 episodes/posts and one measurable CTA (email sign-up, booking page)

Week 2: Build the participation mechanic

• Add a vote, quiz, challenge, or giveaway
• Decide the “live moment” (end-of-month draw, live Q&A, or community event)

Week 3: Ship episode one (then don’t over-edit)

• Publish
• Reply to comments like a human
• Capture FAQs for episode two

Week 4: Measure and decide what to repeat

• Check branded searches, direct traffic, list growth, enquiries
• Ask every lead “where did you find us?” and log it
• Decide whether to renew for another 3–6 episodes

Consistency beats intensity. A small series that runs for 12 weeks will usually outperform a “big splash” that lasts 5 days.

Where this is heading in 2026 (and why it matters)

Broadcasters are experimenting because audiences are fragmented. Small businesses should pay attention for the same reason: your customers are scattered across platforms, and paid ads are getting harder to make profitable without strong creative.

The opportunity in the UK’s digital economy is that distribution has become modular. You can sponsor a creator, fund a local mini-series, run a gamified community campaign, and track outcomes using basic tools—without needing a TV network.

If People’s Postcode Lottery can turn entertainment into measurable trust at scale, your business can do the same at local scale. The question worth sitting with is: what would your customers happily watch every week—and what would you be proud to fund?