The World: Group M takes content provision to a new level.(contracts with American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

The media planning and buying arm is co-producing a US TV drama series independently of its clients.

Producing primetime drama might not seem like the obvious solution to flagging TV revenue models, but it's an option WPP is currently pursuing in the US.

Group M, WPP's media planning and buying arm, is co-producing a six-part series entitled October Road with Touchstone Television for the ABC network. The deal sees Group M fund 50 per cent of the production in return for a bank of ad slots on the channel.

While October Road is not a radical departure for Group M - MindShare Worldwide, a Group M agency, fully financed and produced a summer drama series called The Days for ABC two years ago - this latest deal has been struck independently of Group M's clients. The Days, by contrast, saw MindShare clients such as Sears Roebuck and Unilever carve up the show's ad breaks between them.

In Group M's eyes, this separation between client and TV content, as well as the absence of any product placement, sets its deal with Touchstone apart from ear-lier advertiser-programme agreements. 'Group M is co-producing independently of clients a show to put on the air,' Rino Scanzoni, the chief operating officer at Group M North America, says. 'We get advertising time in all of ABC programmes, and we make that available to our clients.'

For Scanzoni, the advantages of this new model are clear. 'It's a way for us to have some input and interest in intellectual property,' he says. The networks, meanwhile, gain a high-budget programme for their schedule. 'If it works out, it benefits the network which might not otherwise be able to fund the show,' he says. 'The networks realised that they are in the business of finding hit shows, and the higher the number of shows they put on the air, the more likely they are to have a hit. They can use their advertising time to fund that.'

The US is not the only broadcast market WPP has trained its sights on. Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive, recently announced plans for the group to make TV dramas worldwide, subject to regulatory approvals. While WPP is clearly setting great store by advertiser-programme deals, it is debatable if other major players will follow Group M's lead. 'It's not necessarily something other agencies will embrace,' Scanzoni admits. 'Getting involved in general entertainment programming is a very risky proposition.'