They are harnessing the population's massive and growing interest in being able to participate more directly in the TV and radio programmes and newspaper content they enjoy. On offer are opportunities to enter competitions, cast votes and opinions or make donations by means of a call or text to a premium rate number.

Regulator ICSTIS recently reported that premium rate services now account for the equivalent of a £35 annual spend by every adult in the UK, totalling £1.6 billion* a year. It’s a pot that Communications Providers with customers of all sizes in the media or charity sectors could soon be sharing, by expanding their portfolios to include premium rate number and televoting services. On evidence, the results could be impressive.

IMPRESSIVE POTENTIAL

The 12 million viewers who voted in the final of the 'Strictly Come Dancing' programme on BBC1 in December**, for example, raised significant funds for Children in Need as well as contributing to the programme's production costs.

With the advent of multi-channel television, channels based solely on premium rate quizzes have become feasible. ITV's ITV Play channel, launched last April, aims to achieve revenues of £20 million in its first 12 months†. Other established media names are following suit, with Channel 5 planning to draw 25% of its future income from quizzes†. At the upper end of the market, The Times Online has already seen revenues rise 45% year on year in 2006 through its premium-rated Su Doku and crossword competitions† †.

But it isn't only the big names that can gain. Small and medium-size organisations too can find premium-rate services useful as a way to cover the costs of providing information by phone: from the tourist information offices of town and city councils to suppliers of local weather forecasts, traffic updates and transport timetables.

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TELEVOTING AND TELEMARKETING SERVICES FROM BT WHOLESALE 

Communications Providers can capitalise on the UK's increasingly lucrative participation media opportunities through BT Wholesale's fully managed voice call and SMS televoting solutions that are capable of accommodating millions of participants simultaneously.

These are ideally complemented by the 0870 option from our Enhanced Telemarketing Services range. Charged to callers at national rate, the 0870 number can be used to generate new revenues through telemarketing activities, polling, customer service desks, technical helplines, competitions or other types of paid-for content.

* Source: "Trends in the communications sector relevant to the scope and nature of ICSTIS regulation", November 2006.
 
** Source: www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing
 
† Source: www.MediaGuardian.co.uk, 4 August 2006
 
†† Source: Les Hinton, Chairman of News International, speaking at the World Newspaper Congress, Moscow, June 2006