Ten shares hit a record low last week of 20.5¢ and have plummeted 44.6 per cent since its 2014 peak in February. Its suitor Providence is believed to be eyeing further declines.

Goldman Sachs is forecasting a $73.2 million loss for Ten on Thursday, prior to non-recurring items.

Channel 10 estimates the brand-funded market to be worth $200 million. While the size of the market is hard to quantify, TV has comprised a small chunk due to its high production costs.

"It's all about revenue and creating new revenue streams. We think that this is an area that a lot of advertisers want to move into, and already are moving into," Ten chief sales officer Louise Barrett said.

Channel Seven is also understood to be in advanced planning on a number of brand-funded programs after airing prime-time fashion show Style the Nation, created by Target and content agency Ensemble, last month. Channel Nine has run Talk to the Animals, which is funded by Purina pet food, for eight years.

Ten is partnering with Context Media on the push. Brian Gallagher, Context Media executive director and former Ten executive, said: "We think we can position Ten not to take a chunk of that $200 million, but to take that $200 million and turn it into something bigger of which they have a reasonable share."

Spinach Advertising general manager Ben Willee said brand-funded programs were an "enormous opportunity" and could be very successful, pointing to parts of Channel Seven's Better Homes and Gardens.

"The main challenge is the balance between brands putting in a lot of money and their message to come across versus television networks which are supposed experts at entertaining people," he said.

He said advertisers were thinking more about brand-funded content because of social media.

"Facebook has conditioned advertisers to think, 'I need a content strategy, I need content themes, I need to deliver my messages more subtly, so the content is of more value to the consumer'," Mr Willee said.

SMV Group chief executive Chris Nolan said TV networks were "being more flexible in terms of the business model that they might be prepared to enter into with contents in order to deploy it."

Ten attracted just 20.3 per cent of revenue in the eight months to August, according to SMI figures measuring media buyers, down 13.4 per cent year on year. Its shares are down 44.6 per cent since its 2014 peak in February.

While Ten's ratings have improved marginally, Goldman Sachs analyst Christian Guerra said the network is unlikely to enjoy a rebound in revenue share in the short-term.

Goldman Sachs recently upgraded Ten from 'sell' to 'neutral' with a 12-month target price of 27¢, on the back of a modestly improving ad market and resilience in the free-to-air market.

Speculation around media mergers and acquisition should place a floor price on Ten shares, Mr Guerra said. The Australian Financial Review in recent weeks revealed pay TV operator Foxtel was working with US private equity firm Providence Equity Partners on a joint bid for Ten.

Ten posted a net loss of $8 million for the six months ended February 2014.