Unlocking the power of AFP: How brands are revolutionizing engagement beyond traditional ads
Mumbai: Advertiser Funded Programming (AFP), commonly known as Branded Content, involves creating custom TV programs where a brand plays a significant role in financing, creatively influencing, or providing access to resources such as talent or events. This collaboration allows brands to align with popular content and extend their influence across on-air, off-air, and digital platforms. This enables brands to forge deeper connections with audiences by associating with the values and integrity of a show, moving beyond traditional sponsorship. In this model, brands become integral partners in the creative and production process.
With AFP, brands benefit from product placement, long-term brand affinity, and the potential to develop franchises that resonate with consumers. Unlike traditional sponsorship, where brands support existing shows, AFP offers greater creative control, allowing brands to shape the narrative. This approach helps brands bypass the competitive process of securing sponsorship for high-demand shows and instead create or co-create custom content tailored to their marketing goals.
The key advantage is that it provides brands with a competitive edge by allowing early involvement in production. Brands can avoid the rush for sponsorship slots and take ownership of the content, ensuring perfect alignment with their marketing cycles. This flexibility lets brands develop content that fits their timelines rather than adapting to pre-existing shows. With longer planning horizons, enables brands to execute integrated campaigns across multiple platforms—TV, digital, and off-air. By engaging viewers through 30 to 60-minute branded experiences, AFP allows brands to subtly influence perceptions without overt product promotion.
Brands can create exclusive, original content, develop unique programming that fosters loyalty, and launch franchises across various media channels. AFP is a game-changer, giving brands a direct role in content creation and empowering them to co-create or even originate shows. This leads to stronger consumer connections, more meaningful storytelling, and a brand experience woven into the fabric of the show. Through AFP, brands can build long-lasting relationships with broadcasters, enhance marketing synchronization, and unlock new promotional opportunities such as product placement, title rights, and international exposure. Whether creating exclusive content or launching a franchise, AFP offers a multi-platform strategy that allows brands to connect with audiences in a more organic, engaging way.
In India, AFP has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to engage audiences in an integrated, content-driven manner. While primarily associated with Television and OTT platforms, expanding to other media, including print, TV, and OTT remain dominant. AFP is becoming a key part of brand strategy in sectors, like FMCG, automotive, and consumer tech, solidifying its presence in the Indian media landscape.
MadeInMedia.in spoke to a few industry experts on the AFP model, Delphin Varghese, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, AdCounty Media, Hariom Seth, Founder, Tagglabs, Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions and Ridhimaa Bhasin, Head – International Business, IP & Brand Licensing, Neela Film Productions, where they talk about the market share for AFP and how brands not only look at television but also magazines. Today digital also plays an important role when it comes to AFP.
Excerpts:
Delphin Varghese, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, AdCounty Media
The swiftly evolving digital environment of today has led brands to produce newer, innovative means of connecting with their target audiences, and AFP has proven to be very effective in this regard.
The overall AFP market worldwide has grown significantly and provided new opportunities for advertisers to connect consumers with better, more integrated, and more immersive content experiences. The power of AFP here has been in allowing brands to merge perfectly with editorial content, thereby helping increase the credibility of the brand and bringing about a closer relationship with the target audience. In television, it has built up from purely traditional sponsorship by becoming more sophisticated-type partnerships, where brands are incorporated within stories that strike an entire audience on a much more emotional level.
In 2022, the global value of print media stood at $124.70 billion. It is estimated to reach $377.96 billion by 2028. Some drivers include initiatives for sustainability, brand collaboration, and support by the government. (Print Media Global Market Report, 2024).
The AFP market continues to expand across both print and television. Meanwhile, the TV market is growing at a considerable rate. By 2028, this market will be worth $64.7 billion, with a CAGR of 7.85%. Growth can be attributed to the humongous popularity of digital video content and high-definition displays along with other technological advancements on smart TVs that are offering fantastic experiences (Technavio).
These markets collectively present extraordinary potential for content providers and advertisers who wish to utilize a number of different platforms in order to communicate with their audiences.
Hariom Seth, Founder, Tagglabs
Among the key aspects of the increasingly complex structure of brand integration in India is advertising-funded programming (AFP), which has steadily gained in significance. In television, AFP has become an indispensable source of income, accounting for 15 to 20% of the projected ₹70,000 crore TV advertisement industry. Typical genres are reality television, cookery contests, and travel shows with regular participation from the likes of Amul and Himalaya.
In traditional advertising, the overwhelming majority is accounted for by classical modes, with AFP in the form of content and features entitled to brands emerging accounting for 5-7% of the estimated ₹20,000 crore size of the print ad market. The movement to the digital realm has made things even easier where instead of print the publishers are creating videos for the web allowing for even more sales opportunities of the AFP. Advertisers target a new generation of Indian consumers who appreciate subtle product placement, hence there is a transition in the content towards more and more sophisticated solutions by availing, which there is a hope across both media in the near future for further growth.
Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions.
As of 2024, AFP is estimated to contribute to a sizeable portion of India’s advertising sector, as per industry reports suggest the branded content market, which includes AFP, is worth upwards of INR 2,000-3,000 crore annually.
This is driven by the increasing desire of brands to engage with audiences through more immersive and less intrusive formats compared to traditional advertising. Major sectors, including FMCG, automotive & technology, have embraced AFP for their campaigns.
Ridhimaa Bhasin, Head – International Business, IP & Brand Licensing, Neela Film Productions
In today’s world, with shorter audience attention spans and a dynamic market environment, advertisers and brands are seeking more than just traditional ad inventory—they’re looking for unique ways to be part of the content itself. As a creative production studio, in partnership with Sony network, we’ve successfully executed some of the most effective in-show integrations on Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.
Audiences are smart, and brands today understand the importance of subtlety. They don’t want their presence to feel like an obvious plug. Our creative team has done an excellent job of integrating legacy brands seamlessly into the fabric of our stories, making the experience organic for viewers. There’s a natural alignment between creators and brands now, where both sides aim for authentic engagement without overwhelming the audience.
Given the current trends, it’s no longer just a possibility—it’s an expectation. Brands realize the value of this approach, and I only see the AFP market continuing to grow.