He said that people now wanted to enjoy ITV content in a myriad of ways and that this “changes the entire agenda of how we want to engage with people. What online has done is allowed people to share content, discuss it and embrace it. It’s a fantastic vehicle that allows us to join the gaps up if it’s a weekly show or a great marketing tool to get people to the programme in the first place.”

He said that ITV’s brands needed to harness the enthusiasm of what he termed “Pioneer fanatics” on the internet as they have a huge influence with an online audience. “These are the people you have to get talking about a show.”

Pemsel referred to the marketing strategy for ITV2’s Secret Diary of A Call Girl, starring Billie Piper (pictured), as one of the first shows to deploy an online marketing strategy alongside the conventional above the line advertising.

ITV created a Facebook page with Belle du Jour, the original author of the blogs that inspired the show and encouraged people to sign up as friends some time ahead of officially implementing the publicity machine. The site notched up 1,632 friends initially and new ones are still being added.

It also created a promotional teaser that pointed people towards ITV.com and the very first episode of Secret Diary was available on the site a week before the ITV2 debut. Pemsel said that the show was viewed 1,700 times in the first hour.

He acknowledged that the online approach was not new for many advertisers but for broadcasters that are used to controlling their content and how it is accessed the approach was radical.

He added: “We don’t see online as a threat. It’s creating communities around our shows and this is a massive thing for both us and advertisers. It’s no longer just about sponsorship bumpers either side of the show.”

To read Branwell Johnson's blog on this story visit madcomments.co.uk