TV commercial playout procedures & charges

Transcription

1 TV commercial playout procedures & charges

2 ISBA s role is to protect its members freedom to advertise responsibly and help them maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing spend. BACKGROUND There are now over 500 commercial TV channels, with a breadth of programming content that provides a wealth of opportunity for advertisers. The large majority (by number and audience) are now represented by 3 main sales houses: ITV; Channel 4 (which includes UKTV) and Sky (which now includes Channel 5). Appendix 1 shows which Sales House handles the airtime sales for each channel. CURRENT SITUATION At the beginning of May, Sky announced that it would be handling Channel 5 s 250m TV ad sales business from June 1st. Sky has effectively extended its existing deal with Viacom, which acquired Channel 5 last year, to represent the TV ad sales for its portfolio of channels until As airtime sales has concentrated thus, so the delivery chain for commercials has become slightly more complex. Advertisers should give attention to which channels they are using and how their commercials are distributed to those channels. Appendix 2 shows the commonest routes to broadcast (though there are also many other possible routes). In February 2015, Sky notified advertisers, agencies and other intermediaries that they should henceforth send their commercials directly to transmission play-out centres for the channels whose airtime sales Sky handles but are not wholly-owned by Sky. Sky had previously covered any costs arising from being sent commercials for onward distribution to these centres, but withdrew this when more and more suppliers of commercials took advantage of what was intended to be no more than a goodwill gesture. So if airtime is booked on channels for which Sky is only a sales agent, then commercials should still be sent to the channel (e.g. MTV or Discovery) directly. Sky s role is to take the media booking but it now has no involvement in the delivery of the commercial. The current process for supplying commercials to Channel 5 s broadcast channels is unaffected by the announcement at this stage, and commercial content supplied directly to Channel 5 s play-out centres as per the existing procedure. For small to medium-sized and less frequent television advertisers who in the past had sent commercials just to Sky Media on a cost per playout may see an increase in cost.

3 Larger and more frequent television advertisers tend to use larger creative agencies and the newer breed of decoupled production companies (such as Hogarth, TAG, Deliver). These are likely to have bulk arrangements with the companies like Adstream or IMD which facilitate the digital distribution of commercials. These bulk arrangements are typically considerably cheaper per item distributed, and may also have caps so that any traffic above a negotiated maximum travels at very low cost, even free. Finally, the media owners apply surcharges for copy that is delivered after their published delivery deadlines. These charges can accumulate to significant sums but vary widely as most media agencies agreements with the broadcast sales houses include provisions for a proportion of late copy being exempt from these charges. There is therefore also a transparency dimension to this, as distribution and late copy are cost items which can be marked up. SUGGESTED ACTION The exact implications are different for each individual advertiser, dependent on their specific circumstances and distribution arrangements. ISBA recommends that advertisers discuss the implications with their agencies periodically to ensure that: there are no duplicated steps in what can sometimes be a complex process any mark-ups are both visible and declared their commercials are therefore distributed as cost-efficiently as possible

4 Appendix 1 - Channel Representation Channel 4 Sales ITV Sales Five Sky Media Sales

5 Appendix 2 - the TV commercial delivery chain Advertisers Creative Agency Decoupled Production Houses (e.g. Hogarth, TAG, Deliver) Media Agency Playout Ad Distributor (e.g. Adstream, IMD) Approval by Clearcast or local Broadcaster Broadcasting Sales Houses Broadcasters Viewers