hifranc

Among my many podcasts are 4 media programmes. Two of them are produced in the UK (Media Show from the BBC and Media Talk from The Guardian). From all of them there is clearly a few changes (some having more impact in the UK than in other countries):

There are several trends (not good if you're a commercially funded TV station):

1) With digital switchover (i.e. the ending of the analogue TV transmissions to be replaced with digital TV): The coming of more channels means that the number of viewers for each channel as the viewers get dispersed among the various offerings. This means that each TV channel finds it harder to sell advertising space as some of their viewers are watching other channels.

2) The rise of the web: As the web is free, is accessible any time (not just when the programme coordinator thinks you should watch it) and, due to the nature of the web, advertisers only have to pay for adverts that are seen[1], advertisers have been moving their adverts from TV (which is very expensive for the notion that lots of people may see your advert) to the web.

3) Ad skipping technology: For the past few years new recorders (e.g. the TiVo and some high end VCRs) have the ability to record programmes without recording the ads. Furthermore, others give the user the ability to skip the commercial breaks quickly. That makes TV a less attractive medium for advertisers.[2]

And, finally,

4) The economic downturn: One of the first things that gets cut in a recession is marketing budgets. Given 1), 2) and 3) that means the decline in ad sales for TV, which was already a trend, is accelerated.

These trends have already led Ofcom to conclude that it would be unfair to hold ITV to its Public Service Broadcasting commitments. What are these, you may ask? In the old days (when we just had BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) one of the conditions of getting a licence to broadcast was that, due to the how valuable the airwaves were then, all channels had to enter Public Service Broadcasting commitments. The exact nature varied from channel to channel but, broadly speaking, they all had to make programmes that were not commercially viable for the public good (e.g. ITV had to produce a certain amount of local news). Ofcom has already agreed that, in today's world, the airwaves are not so valuable so has loosened the requirements on ITV (and I think Channel 4 and 5 but I'm not sure about them).

Furthermore, Ofcom is openly discussing "top slicing" the licence fee. Basically it means that, instead of being there to support the BBC, some of the money we pay in out TV Licence should go to support Channel 4, and other broadcasters. What I'm trying to say here is that TV companies are losing a lot of money because advertisers no longer see TV advertising as effective as it used to be.

Two or three weeks ago I noticed a new advert on TV. It was TV's fight back:

Thinkbox's Ad. The point it's trying to make is that TV advertising is so effective it becomes part of our culture. It features a man remembering adverts that most of the audience would remember. However, I think that the adverts it has picked are its biggest weakness. I shall illustrate:

Cornetto's Ad (starts 7mins 40 secs into video). As far as I can remember that's from the 80s.

I couldn't find a video but Wiki states:

The Honey Monster was first seen on TV in 1976 in an advertisement created by John Webster of the advertising agency BMP.[1] The ad focused around a nutritional message which was illustrated by a "mother" (played by Henry McGee) and "child" (the Honey Monster) relationship. The mother was responsible for what the child was eating. The child wanted honey and would cry "Tell them about the honey, mummy!".

"You'll Go Monster-Mad For The Honey!!": In the late 1980s, "Sugar Puffs" adverts featured the slogan "You-ll Go Monster-Mad For The Honey".

In other words we're talking late 70s to early 80s.

I confess I don't recognise the chocolate hazelnut advert.

Fairy Liquid has been running for years and is still running.

I confess that I don't recognise the ad with "Wazzah!" in.

Yellow Pages. However, the Yellow Pages website shows how old that advert is.

R Whites Leomonade. From Wiki we find the start date is 1973. The end date is not stated but I think it was the late 80s or early 90s.

Bodyform. As far as I recall it was broadcast in the 90s and the early 2000s but I may be wrong there.

Milk Marketing Board. A quick check of sites shows that it started in the late 80s. As far as I recall, I can't remember it being shown in the last 5 years (and probably not in the last 10).

So why have I talked about the history of each one? The point I'm trying to make is that, if Thinkbox is trying to prove that it's important and relevant, why did they choose adverts that emphasise how much TV advertising glory days were in its past?

Ps.
For those who read my previous post: If you're really interested, the bit I researched was finding all the links. The first part is done from memory but, as it's discussed almost every week in media podcasts, I would feel embarrassed if I got any of that wrong.

[1] As the server only has to offer adverts when the page is requested, you can count the number of pages that have been viewed that had that advert in.
[2] It also hits the web because it's easy to get ad blocking software for your computer.

{edited 30th June 2009 @ 08:38 to include new point 3.}

{edited 11th July 2009 @ 08:52 to correct spelling of Thinkbox.}

Tags: advertisement, advertising, bbc, channel 4, channel 5, culture, digital switchover, downturn, itv, media show, media talk, multichannel, new media, ofcom, podcast, public service broadcasting, recession, structural changes, the guardian, thinkbox, top slicing, tv, tv licence, web
Current Mood: curious

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