Branded content: fall in love with your audience.

Branded content is the advertising modality that produces content relevant to an audience — educational, informational or entertaining — under the signature of a brand, without the interruptive logic of classic advertising. According to IAB Spain's Digital Media Advertising Investment Study (2024), the Branded Content and Content Marketing category reached €478 million in Spain, growing 11.2% year on year. It is the third fastest-growing discipline in the Spanish advertising sector, behind only programmatic advertising and influencer marketing.

The figure matters because it marks a transition. A decade ago, branded content was an experimental rarity within marketing budgets. Today it occupies a stable budget line in 62% of Spanish top-200 advertisers (IAB Spain, 2024) and typically consumes between 8% and 15% of the total communications budget. This makes branded content one of the disciplines with the highest structural growth in the Spanish advertising sector.

What exactly is branded content and how is it different from other forms of content?

Branded content is content produced or co-financed by a brand whose primary objective is not to sell a specific product, but to build perception, affinity and long-term memory through the cultural, informational or emotional value delivered to the audience. The brand signs the content, but the content is not the product.

The border with neighbouring disciplines is easily confused. The table below delimits the five categories the sector mixes daily:

Discipline	Who decides the editorial angle	Main objective	Key metric
Branded content	Brand and producer together	Long-term awareness and affinity	Time spent, recall, brand lift
Content marketing	Brand (controls everything)	Acquisition and lead generation	Traffic, leads, conversion
Native advertising	Brand (media format)	Conversion and qualified traffic	CTR, CPL, conversion
Product placement	Content producer	Contextual association to the product	Impressions, recall
Classic advertising	Brand and creative agency	Direct sale or awareness	GRP, reach, ROI

The most useful distinction is the job-to-be-done: classic advertising sells; branded content serves. If the prospective customer looks for the content on their own — saves it, shares it, recommends it — it is branded content. If they only find it because the brand paid to put it in front of their attention, it is advertising.

Where does branded content come from and why has it taken off now?

Branded content is not new. American radio soap operas of the 1930s were entirely sponsored and produced by soap brands (Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive) financing multi-hour weekly stories. The Furrow magazine, published by John Deere since 1895, is still printed today in 14 languages with useful agricultural content for its customers; it is the oldest branded content in the world with uninterrupted publication.

What has changed is context. Three factors explain the discipline's explosion between 2010 and 2026:

1. Advertising saturation. The average Spanish user receives between 4,000 and 10,000 advertising impacts daily (University of San Diego, 2023; varies by source). The brain automatically filters most of them out. Relevant content, it does not.
2. Decline of traditional advertising. Ad blocker use in Spain reached 26% in 2024 according to IAB Spain. Programmatic advertising loses inventory and attention; branded content recovers it because the user actively searches for it.
3. Maturation of distribution platforms. YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, podcasts, newsletters and social networks have created the distribution ecosystem that did not exist before. A brand can reach a million people with its own content without paying for classic advertising inventory.

What branded content formats are working in 2026?

The format is not chosen because it is fashionable but because it fits the audience's job-to-be-done and the brand's productive capacity. The formats with the highest growth in Spain over the last three years:

• Documentary video series. Episodes of 8-25 minutes published on YouTube or proprietary platform. The format was popularised by BBVA with Aprendemos Juntos, which in 2025 surpassed 800 million cumulative views. It is the premium format of the sector.
• Brand podcasts. Podcast consumption in Spain grew 19% in 2024 according to the iVoox Observatory. Mahou, Endesa, Caixabank and Acciona, among others, produce proprietary podcasts. Average production cost for a 10-episode series: €35,000-80,000.
• Feature documentaries. Cases like Cuanto Más Allá by Banco Santander with Rafa Nadal, or The Calling by Pernod Ricard. Investment €250,000-1,500,000. They usually premiere at festival and then release on platform.
• Editorial newsletters. Cheap and unsaturated format. Mahou Activo, Iberdrola newsletters on energy efficiency or Boletín Banco Sabadell for freelancers generate month-to-month retention with production cost under €4,000 per edition.
• Proprietary editorial platforms. Microsites with continuous production. Repsol with El blog de Repsol, Endesa with e-coral, IKEA with Living-Hub. They work as proprietary media.
• Physical experiences and events. Branded content is not only digital. Reebok with its sports pop-ups in cities, Mahou with its own music festivals, Loewe with art exhibitions. The physical component delivers differentiation when digital is saturated.

What investment does it require and what return should you expect?

The most frequent question from SMEs considering entering branded content is the minimum viable cost. Indicative figures for Spain in 2026:

• Serious editorial newsletter, 8-10 editions per year: €18,000-35,000 annually (production + distribution + curation).
• Brand podcast, 10 episodes: €35,000-80,000 (with high-level guests and careful production).
• YouTube video series, 8 chapters of 10 minutes: €80,000-180,000 including promotion.
• Full-length documentary: from €250,000 upwards.
• Proprietary editorial platform, weekly content for a year: €70,000-150,000.

The return is hard to measure with traditional metrics (CTR, CPL) because branded content operates on a different time scale. The operational metrics I recommend measuring:

1. Time spent. Total time the audience devotes to the content. It is the most differential indicator vs. classic advertising: a spot lasts 30 seconds, a well-done branded content episode keeps attention 8-12 minutes.
2. Spontaneous and aided recall. Panel surveys before and after the campaign. Well-executed branded content lifts aided recall by 18 to 35 percentage points (Bardají studies, IPG Mediabrands).
3. Brand lift. Measured variation in consideration, purchase intent and key brand attributes. Google Brand Lift and Nielsen Brand Effect are the standards.
4. Earned media. Unpaid media coverage generated by the content. It is the proof that branded content transcends the audience to which it was originally distributed.
5. Brand searches. The increase in direct searches of the brand name after the campaign tends to be between 8% and 25% in successful projects.

"Branded content is not a campaign tactic; it is a brand-model decision. A brand decides whether it wants to be a publisher or an advertiser, and each decision has consequences in structure, budget, team and culture."

— Javier Regueira, PhD in Branded Content (Branded Content Marketing Association Spain, 2014)

What makes a branded content piece work and why do so many fail?

The sector has a high rate of projects that go unnoticed. The most frequent cause, in my consulting experience, is not budgetary but editorial: the brand wants the spotlight and then the content loses value for the audience. Five conditions separate hits from forgotten pieces:

1. The brand signs but does not star. In BBVA's Aprendemos Juntos, the bank does not appear on screen; it appears as the editor responsible for an educational service. The user associates the value received with the brand without feeling sold to.

2. The editorial premise connects with a real pain of the audience. Content that helps the customer do something they were already trying to do works (educating their children, improving their finances, knowing inspiring stories). Content that only talks about the product in fictional disguise does not.

3. The production investment is consistent with the category. Competing against Netflix for audience attention, branded content with old-school spot production looks cheap. The quality bar is set by the medium where it will appear.

4. There is continuity, not isolated campaigns. Branded content pays off through accumulation. A three-episode campaign usually leaves no trace. A series of twelve or twenty-four, yes. Aprendemos Juntos has been in production for seven years; that is the minimum horizon to build a proprietary editorial franchise.

5. There is a dedicated team inside the brand. It does not work as an occasional project managed alongside others. Brands with sustained results have a team of at least two people dedicated to the editorial line.

How do you measure and compare branded content ROI vs. other advertising investments?

The most useful comparator I apply in consulting: convert all marketing and communications investments to a common metric. The one that works best is cost per qualified attention (CPQA), defined as the average cost to have a prospective consumer pay attention for at least sixty seconds to the brand message.

Indicative 2024-2025 sector figures:

• TV prime time spot: €24-38 per thousand qualified attentions (CPQA ≈ €0.028).
• Programmatic display banner: €3-7 per thousand impressions, but average attention 1-2 seconds. Effective CPQA ≈ €0.15-0.25 (much worse than it looks).
• Non-skippable YouTube pre-roll: €11-19 per thousand impressions, average attention 5-12 seconds. CPQA ≈ €0.06.
• Premium YouTube branded content series: total cost / real attentions. In successful pieces it usually runs €0.008-0.015 per minute of attention.

Branded content tends to come out cheaper per minute of effective attention than any other advertising investment, but it demands a higher initial investment and a longer time horizon. It is not "better" as a category; it is better when measured with the right metric and given the horizon it needs.

What canonical examples of Spanish branded content are worth studying?

Four essential cases to understand the discipline in the Spanish market:

1. BBVA · Aprendemos Juntos. Educational project in video format interviewing global referents on education, values and personal development. Started in 2018, still active. More than 800 million cumulative views (BBVA public data 2025).
2. Banco Santander · Cuanto Más Allá. Documentary about Rafa Nadal premiered in 2022. Long-format branded content with international reach. Premiered on Amazon Prime Video.
3. Mahou · Active community. Multichannel programme (podcast, digital content, physical events) on lifestyle and sport. Pioneering case of brewery branded content in Spain.
4. Estrella Damm · Mediterráneamente. Annual short films in summer format. High-level film production (directors like Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Isabel Coixet), continuity since 2009.

How does a mid-sized Spanish company start in branded content without exploding the budget?

The mistake I recommend SMEs avoid is starting with the most expensive format (video series). The safer route:

1. Audit the existing base. Almost every company already has informal content (internal notes, webinars, occasional posts, technical sheets). Reorganising it into an editorial line is the first branded content exercise at no additional cost.
2. Start with newsletter or podcast. They are the formats with the lowest entry barrier and the best learning curve. Initial investment is manageable (€15,000-35,000) and feedback is quick.
3. Define KPIs before launch. Without defined metrics, branded content is indefinitely cancellable. With clear metrics, the investment can be defended before senior management.
4. Commit to 12-18 months as minimum horizon. Below that, it is not worth starting.
5. Integrate it with the overall strategy. Branded content that does not answer Levitt's question on what business satisfies what need is content for content's sake. The kind that does answer, multiplies.

If your company is considering launching a branded content initiative and wants to validate whether the format, the investment and the time horizon fit your business model, book a first session at no cost. We review in 45 minutes whether branded content is the right next step or whether it is wiser to wait.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly is branded content?

Editorial content (video, article, series, podcast) created by a brand, where the brand is not the centre of the message but the sponsor of an experience that delivers value to the consumer. It differs from product placement and classic advertising in that it does NOT interrupt.

What is the difference between branded content and advertising?

Advertising interrupts; branded content is sought out. Advertising talks about the product; branded content talks about something that matters to the consumer. Advertising measures impact in CPM/CPC; branded content measures engagement and brand affinity.

What are the best examples of branded content?

BBVA Aprendemos Juntos (education), Banco Santander Cuanto. Más allá del dinero (short films), Red Bull Stratos (extreme sports), Patagonia Worn Wear (sustainability), The LEGO Movie (entertainment).

Does branded content work for SMEs?

Yes, with adapted scale. An SME can produce branded content with a solid editorial blog, a sector-specific podcast, a training YouTube channel or a value-driven newsletter. The key is not budget, it is editorial consistency.

What budget does branded content require?

In Spain in 2026, an editorial newsletter ranges €18,000-35,000 annually; a brand podcast of 10 episodes €35,000-80,000; a YouTube video series €80,000-180,000; a full-length documentary from €250,000 upwards.