The main TV channels in Turkey are making a good case for increasing prices substantially in April, May and June this year. Of course this always the same situation at this time of the year, as this is the advertiser’s key advertising period and the TV channels attempt to maximise income. The channels always have a story to tell, which they hope the agencies will pass on to their clients in their attempt to justify providing the same product for more money.
This year the Channels seem to have a reasonable excuse; RTUK has again changed the advertising rules on TV, cutting some types of advertising, but also allowing some flexibility on how ads are broadcast. It’s the cuts of advertising types – so called generics, ad break sponsor spots etc – that has the channels trying to justify price increases. They argue that that the total seconds lost, means they have less product to sell, therefore they must increase prices. That is not the advertisers concern – that’s the TV Channels problem.
However, to give the Channels argument a little more sophistication; there is increasing demand for less product so prices will increase.
Now this sounds all very logical on the surface; the seconds have been lost. But advertisers do not buy seconds in 2011, they buy ratings. And a good argument can be put that the available ratings have not decreased. They have in fact increased, and therefore prices should not increase; they should - logically - fall.
First; the total adverting time per hour for normal ads has not changed. When ads were blocked together in slots lasting up to eight minutes (including all messages between the programmes) there was a massive loss of ratings through the break. Up to seventy percent of the available programme ratings were lost during the break. Now that the channels can transmit single ad spots, there is almost a zero ratings loss between the programme and the ad. Conversely, the same ad minutes now probably enjoy 50% higher ratings for the exactly the same transmission time.
Second; product placement has now been made legal, and there is an explosion of products appearing in programmes. The channels charge a premium rate for these placements, and the ratings are high – they are the programme ratings. These ratings will therefore be higher than the generics etc that they replace.
The result is a net increase in available ratings that the channels can sell.
What is required is for the agencies – the advertiser’s representative – to do the correct analysis and publish it, and not buy the channels simplified arguments verbatim. In other words; agencies should do their job
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