In an age when viewers increasingly fast-forward past television commercials on their DVRs or bypass most advertisements altogether by streaming the programs, companies are constantly looking for new ways to reach consumers.
General Electric is the latest to experiment, with the help of big-name movie producers and directors. The company is working on a six-part documentary series about science and technology that will be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel beginning in November. The channel, which is co-producing the series, plans to announce it Wednesday at its upfront presentation in New York.
With the series, called "Breakthrough," G.E. aims to create high-quality branded content that will highlight scientific innovation, some of it involving scientists who work for or with the company. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment — who both won Academy Awards in 2002 for "A Beautiful Mind" and have worked together on other blockbuster films like "Apollo 13" — are producers, along with Asylum Entertainment. Mr. Howard, Brett Ratner, Angela Bassett, Akiva Goldsman, Peter Berg and Paul Giamatti will each direct one of the hourlong episodes.
G.E., which has a global research division with nearly 4,000 scientists and engineers, said its goal with the series was not to sell more light bulbs or other G.E. products, but to spread awareness about the company's contributions to science and technology. G.E. helped pick the topics for the series and gave the producers access to its research centers to generate story ideas.
The company said it was leaving much of the actual storytelling to Imagine and Asylum. G.E. products and scientists are likely to appear in the episodes, though Beth Comstock, the company's chief marketing officer, insisted they would not be included "unless it makes sense." Other companies will also be able to buy commercial time during the episodes. (G.E. said it did not currently have plans to run its own commercials during the series.)
"It's not just slapping our logo on and paying the production fee," said Ms. Comstock, who is also the president and chief executive of G.E. business innovations. The six episodes will focus on scientific advances involving the brain, aging, water supply, alternative energy, pandemics and the fusion of biology and technology.
Production on several of the episodes is already underway. The series will run in 171 countries and in 45 languages, those involved said.
"You see G.E. as this gigantic corporation that does many, many different things, but we connected to the heartbeat of what that is," Mr. Grazer said.
Neither G.E. nor the National Geographic Channel, of which Fox Cable Networks, a division of 21st Century Fox, is a majority owner, would disclose the budget for "Breakthrough." But both said the series required a significant financial investment.
G.E. is certainly not the first brand to try branded entertainment. The Lego Group charged onto the big screen in 2014 with "The Lego Movie," which made $468.8 million at the box office worldwide. Chipotle put out a four-part comedy series called "Farmed and Dangerous" on Hulu last year, after releasing two animated shorts on YouTube, "Back to the Start" in 2011 and "The Scarecrow" in 2013. A series in 2012 for Intel, "The Beauty Inside," about a man who wakes up as a different person every day, won a Daytime Emmy Award.
Marketing experts say this turn to branded entertainment is happening because the traditional methods of advertising are outdated and every piece of content, advertising or not, must compete for viewers' attention.
"There's no room for anything that's secondary, that doesn't add value to people's lives," said Andrew Essex, the vice chairman for the advertising agency Droga5. "Brands have to try harder and aspire to the level of entertainment."
G.E. has been quick to adopt new forms of social and digital media. It was among the first brands on Twitter, Instagram and the video service Vine. G.E. also recently teamed with Vevo on a video bundle for streaming devices like Roku and Apple TV.
Brands are still spending plenty of money on television advertising. Television ad expenditures increased 5.5 percent in 2014, to $78.1 billion, from $74.0 billion in 2013, according to Kantar Media.
Still, as brands rethink the way they advertise, television networks are adapting as well. For the National Geographic Channel, producing a series with G.E. was a way to align itself with a company beyond a traditional sponsorship, said Courteney Monroe, the chief executive of National Geographic Channels U.S.
"Because it's no longer about the 30-second spots for brands, television networks also have to innovate and think differently about how they work with brands," she said.
Still, in producing a series like "Breakthrough," which is supposed to entertain viewers as much as to market G.E., there is the possibility that consumers will not realize the company's connection to the show.
"I don't think it has to be plastered all over the screen," Ms. Comstock said. Still, she added, "we'll make sure that everyone knows that G.E. has been part of it."
And if they don't?
"Sure it's a risk," she acknowledged. "Good content has to be risky."
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