Competitions

The UK is currently the leading market in the world for Premium Rate services and continues to grow. Revenues in 2007 were estimated at £1.08bn, and TV contributes significantly to this figure through competitions, vote lines, interactive TV games and more.

Channel 5 offers a wide variety of Premium Rate competitions and promotions to our viewers. These are provided via any combination of phone (Interactive Voice Response, or IVR), text message (SMS), via the Channel 5 website or interactive tv (red button). The services allow the viewer to do the following:

 

• Enter competitions
• Receive alerts and information on their favourite programmes
• Provide feedback on programmes
• Send messages both SMS and MMS to our presenters
• Get their news content and comments on-air

 

Behind these services, we are able to collect a variety of data about our viewers by asking them for information when they enter/interact. This can range from obtaining the mobile phone numbers of viewers interested in our films, to asking specific questions for a third party to whom we then sell this information.

 

A few examples of promotions run in the last 12 months:

 

Football

 

Channel 5 received over a quarter of a million interactions with people looking to comment on the particular game being broadcast or to enter a competition.

 

CSI

 

Of the available audience, 2% tried their hands at being amateur CSI’s by entering a series of competitions during 2007. Viewers were asked to phone or text in with the answer to a question about that evening’s episode of CSI or CSI: Miami for a chance to win £10,000 – with the winner’s name being announced an hour later. 10% of people who entered via SMS also went on to enter a second competition we promoted via text message – this secondary competition can be sponsored by a prize provider.

 

The Gadget Show

 

The Gadget Show goes from strength-to-strength, as an increasingly impressive number of the audience interacts with the show to win highly desirable prize bundles of electrical goods. Secondary competitions offer new-to-market gadgets and achieve a similarly high response rate.

 

Fifth Gear 

 

Every week on Fifth Gear we give away a car, with prizes as diverse as a classic Ford Capri through to a top of the range Porsche. 2007 continued in the same vein, with a large number of viewers choosing to enter.

 

If you would like more information on the promotional opportunities in telephony, please contact Paul Gill on paul.gill@channel5.com or by telephone on 020 7550 5540.