With dark nights and dank days still dominating the weather last month it was probably no surprise escapist ads - motoring, holidays and travel - were the main sectors dominating advertising on TV. Between them they racking up nearly one third of the TV and cinema ads tracked by thesyncsurvey.

The exclusive analysis, which monitored a total of 37 spots throughout February, showed that six motoring films were screened last month, hogging some 16.2% of the relevant screen time.

There were five holiday and travel ads, taking up 13.5% of the TV ad time, followed by comfort fare: supermarkets, grub, booze and choc ads which registered a total of 12 spots or 32.4% of the total for February.

Financial products and spots for health and beauty, soft drinks and telecoms contributed just two ads each.

But, the surprise element from all these eating and travelling commercials was the strong use of special commissioned and re-recorded music.

Eight of the ads surveyed by the adbreakanthems team were specially commissioned and a further seven were re-records. Only nine records were contemporary and 11 came from catalogue.

adbreakanthems editor-in-chief Chas de Whalley said, “We saw in our sync of the month that the Kronenbourg ad featuring Eric Cantona featured a Czech re-record of the Queen song We Are The Champions. Could it be that the tough economic climate means that agencies are now hunting for cheaper music?”

Probably because 30% of the music came from re-records and commissions, the most dominant style of music tracked in February was Instrumentals (18 ads). The involvement of the big three music labels (Sony, Warners and the now merged Universal and EMI) was also less extensive than might have been expected. Universal/EMI represented seven of the total ads screened, while Sony and Warner only had a stake in four and two ads respectively.

Meanwhile a total of 20 publishers enjoyed sole or part control of the 37 music titles, with Sony ATV/EMI (the newly merged publishing entity) topping the table with a presence in 11 of the ads.

Pop and rock tracks proved the most popular with agencies and their clients with over one third of the surveyed spots sound-tracked by one or other of these genres.

Music supervisors Platinum Rye, Leland Music and Soundtree were called upon most for their expertise, selecting music for nearly 30% of the ads.

AMV BBDO, Mother, Wieden & Kennedy, Adam & Eve and BMB commissioned 40% of the films screened.