Sponsorship stings

Some shows still do that - I think it's only advertiser funded shows though where the sponsor pays for the programme. Many examples, but The Krypton Factor is probably the most high profile one - though they do effectively have the sponsorship sting run into the titles.

C4's McCain Track and Field Show has a sponsorship sting then the logo on the endcap of the titles. Trouble is rather than inspiring you to get out and do some athletics, you just end up wanting chips.

Ford sponsoring Sky's football is another example - probably the longest sponsorship deal on UK TV now. They must think it's effective to continue with it - you'd think after a few years the benefit of being the sponsor of a programme would begin to fade.

King.com has made a bit of effort with Deal or No Deal - but arguably too much effort, visualising the banker which IMO could damage the concept slightly. Their previous ones were good too - generic, yet specific to Deal or No Deal with the logo neatly integrated.

Another good example is the titles to the UEFA Champions League on ITV1. The sponsors aren't integrated into the titles as such, but their ads are played during the titles with the theme tune playing rather than just being inserted before the programme.

Yes, that works well. ITV Sport used to do something similar for the World Cup, opening with an "ITV Sport presents" slide, then playing the sponsorship before the titles roll. Probably quite a while since they did it (could even have been just the once, but I'm sure it was more), but the 1998 titles work very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iBDFPYMi00

I think the thing there that sets its apart to other programmes is that the way they do that is the same across the continent on each particular Matchday, I take it UEFA get more of the money rather than the actual broadcaster? I think (other than the football) is what makes Champions League on TV rather unique.

And the above video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iBDFPYMi00

That video reminds me, sponsorships used to be part of the original recordings all the time (even when they weren't integrated into the titles). You used to see the sponsor after the credits but before the production caption.

Don't think so... The sponsor's money is going to the broadcasters, because they have to pay a huge amount of money to the UEFA, FIFA, etc. to be allowed to broadcast the sport games ...

Yes, one of my favourite World Cup theme tunes, that. I think that "ITV Sport Presents" is dead exciting. Those break bumpers were notoriously useless, though, not so much there but the rest were all clips of matches overdubbed with "funny" voices, which were unbelievably unfunny, so you'd get shots of players handing over pendants at the start of a match with a voice-over saying "I will put this in the window of my Corsa!!!" all that. Indeed, Fantasy World Cup made fun of them by predicting what moment from one of that day's matches they might use, and they overdubbed it accordingly... and a few days later, Vauxhall used the exact same moment!

Also in 1998 you had Cockburn's Port sponsoring all ITV comedy, which was alright when it was An Audience With or the Comedy Awards (when, as in every year, the sponsor got their name on the podium) but it was also used for the first series of Cold Feet and it was the most mismatched break bumper ever, as they were based around the exploits of some Marquess of Bath-style aristocrat prancing around a stately home. The only one I remember is of him in bed, wearing a nightcap and stripy pyjamas - it was that subtle, waking up when he heard footsteps, then hearing a bottle being opened, saying "Quite right! Quite right!" and going back to sleep.

Imagine something like the Michael Winner weather bumpers, only even less funny - they were that bad. From that to Cold Feet. Rubbish.

Who is sponsoring films on C4 now? They've had a few since Stella Artois - the Guinness ones were alright, but the Yellow Pages ones were almost as annoying as Sheilas Wheels.

Those weather people were called the weathergens, each one represented the weather conditions, however my favorite ones were the ones used before them where the screen would rotate around parts of the powergen logo.

I'm quite liking the sponsorship of 'ITV3 Peak' by Yorkshire - www.yorkshire.com

To see the stings with white lettering on a black background complete with a big yellow 'Y' - right before re-runs of Rising Damp is classic!

You almost wonder how they got away with it to be fair
Not that it bothers me, being a Yorkshire viewer. I'd rather the chevron still be around personally... damn ITV...