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The lines between what is and what is not advertiser-funded content are sometimes a little blurred. One man's sponsorship is another's integrated brand experience. But while the idea is gaining currency in most media, it is increasingly coming to life online.

Most of the fanfare has been around TV shows and channels, such as The Guardian Sports Show and Adidas' Mourinho's Ultimate +10 on Channel 4, but there is plenty of evidence that marketers realise the online potential for ad-funded content.

Media owners want to realise this potential, of course, and are taking steps to open up opportunities.

Yahoo! further boosted its entertainment team when it hired Janine Smith from her Channel4.com role as editor of entertainment in new media, and her remit will include advertiser-funded content. The portal has already seen success in the area through a partnership between Yahoo! Music and The Wrigley Company. Elsewhere, MindShare Interaction has recently completed a deal that will see a Jaguar "ezine" on Times Online.

However, online, the nature of the relationship between audience and medium has to be considered carefully before brands take advantage. A TV audience will watch an ad- funded show if it is engaging, but users have even more choice online. Users have to proactively seek such content out.

Audience promises

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau, argues that while online does require a proactive audience, its flexibility gives it great advantages. "The great thing is that there is no TV scheduler to convince or get round," he says. The former Vodafone marketer cites an experience when the mobile network was promised a 9pm slot for some content it had proposed on TV, but was shifted to 11pm by the broadcaster. This obviously affects the audience.

The popularity of broadband means there is little, technologically, standing in the way of user's enjoyment of branded content now, but the user still has to make the choice to look or listen. Therefore, can we assume that all the content must be at a high level of quality - whether it is exclusive gigs or celebrity interviews?

Not necessarily, the important thing now is engagement and that doesn't have to be expensive, industry experts suggest. Phillipson talks of the "phenomenon of showing our own content".

Blake Chandlee, commercial director at Yahoo! UK and Ireland, insists that now "content is more than just pictures or video on a page, there is much more of a community aspect".

Chandlee helped to drive Wrigley's tie-up with Yahoo! Music, which does offer exclusive content, but he still insists community should be part of future ad-funded deals to ensure the audience is engaged. He points out that the starting point for the media owner and the agencies on the Wrigley deal was the strapline - "get closer".

In fact, Chandlee believes that the community aspect of branded messages will become such a major part of brand messages online, that the concept of what we mean by "content" will change. A brand could get involved in photo-sharing online, where consumers could share a World Cup moment, he cites as an example.

Paul Frampton, head of digital at Media Contacts, believes that "advertiser-funded content is giving way to user-generated content". But online's interactive nature means advertisers should think about how they can communicate with consumers in the long term and they are not yet thinking long-term enough, he insists.

Brand message

The challenge of bringing back a consumer time after time is not an easy one, though. The brand message must be used delicately, or it will be rejected. Jeremy Hill, managing partner at digital consultancy Circus Street, says: "The challenge is how do you syndicate content out and how do you get people to see that and not just shoehorn your brand into it."

Hill believes some brands have been slow to realise they have to engage people online. "Taking someone to Tampax.com is not that compelling," he says. But he goes on to praise the good work of Pampers.com, which he says is now making use of relationships with young mothers by providing useful information on its site.

FMCG brands like these are still firmly in the sights of media owners and advertiser-funded content could be the opportunity online salesmen, and the clients themselves, have been looking for.

HOW AD-FUNDED CONTENT CAN WORK ONLINE

- Sveltesse Optimise Nestle had introduced a new yoghurt drink and media partner AOL concluded that the standard advertorial executions would not deliver the necessary levels of interest. The portal proposed the Nestle "Get Svelte for Summer" hub area, which is a bespoke property designed to position the brand as an authority in the health and fitness arena.

- A microsite on AOL featured specially commissioned features written by the AOL editorial team. Sveltesse specific content included an advertorial, a metabolism calculator, specially commissioned metabolism content, a member challenge and a competition.

- The brand reported a significant increase in prompted brand aware-ness and strong indications of increased purchase consideration - 37% of people said they would consider buying the product after visiting the microsite, while 29% of people who saw the microsite clicked through to the main Sveltesse Optimise website.