Its report ‘Get with the programmes’ shows the mechanics of TV sponsorships and how marketers can measure the impact of sponsorship. Research for the report was conducted by YouGov and House 51.

Brand affinity was identified because the personality fit between a viewer of a sponsored TV show and the sponsoring brand was 53% higher than the fit between the sponsoring brand and a non-viewer. Thinkbox said the ‘brand rub’ effect means sponsoring brands borrow from the show’s personality.

Viewers of a sponsored TV show are more likely to believe the sponsoring brand is popular than non-viewers ( 78% vs. 68%). TV sponsorship also increases automatic positive brand associations – using an implicit timed response test, House 51 found that viewers were twice as fast as non-viewers to agree they would recommend the sponsoring brand.

The research also found an impact on brand awareness – especially for less well-known brands where both brand and advertising awareness scores were substantially higher for viewers of the TV shows they sponsored. Brand awareness was 17.2% points higher than for non-viewers (it was 1.1% points higher for well-known brands).

Matt Hill, Thinkbox’s research and planning director, said: “Through this research our understanding of how TV sponsorships work is better than ever. Marketers need to know that their investments make a real difference to their brands – this research enables them to do just that.

“Crucially, we’ve found very strong evidence that TV sponsorships’ impact is long lasting and that, if advertisers want to see them work at their hardest, they should ensure they’re integrated with the rest of their advertising and making use of the additional promotional tools the broadcasters provide.”

House 51 used a mobile self-ethnographies, filmed depth-interviews, and a quantitative survey across eight TV sponsorships, each time interviewing 300 viewers/non-viewers, to understand the mechanics of how TV sponsorship drives brand affinity.

YouGov combined its Brand Index database with its TV programme database (both of which survey the attitudes of 4,000 people every day) to look for evidence of the impact TV sponsorships deliver for brand health and how to increase effectiveness.