TV named the worst medium for wall-to-wall Christmas ads

Daniel Farey-Jones, brandrepublic.com, Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 11:00am,

LONDON – Television carries too much Christmas advertising while magazines and radio come out as more balanced, according to a survey of readers of women's weekly and TV listings magazines published by IPC.

The survey, conducted by OMD Insight, found that 92% said TV carries too much advertising during the Christmas season, in contrast to 33% who answered the same for magazines and 20% for radio.

However, this group is less likely to complain that shops start Christmas too early. Before the end of October, 61% start making lists of gifts and, before the end of November, 66% are already shopping for main presents.

Another finding was that 86% of readers bought some Christmas presents in supermarkets last year, with 18% having increased their Christmas spend in supermarkets between 2004 and 2003. They gave convenience and lower cost as reasons for this behaviour.

Out of the supermarkets, Tesco attracted the most spend on Christmas presents, an average of £61.92. The most common presents were CDs, DVDs and video.

Nick Tapley, manager at OMD Insight, said: "Christmas may seem a long way off, but many UK consumers are already starting to plan for their biggest family celebration of the year."

Readers of eight magazines, including Chat, Pick Me Up, TV Times and What's on TV, were surveyed.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com