Media: ITV costs a turn-off

On the eve of the launch of Channel 5, the cost of advertising on

ITV continues to soar and is forcing advertisers to reconsider their TV

budgets and move spend away from the network.

In January, ITV price inflation ran to 10% for all adult audiences, and

25% for the 16- to 34-year-old male audiences (year-on-year). In

February the picture looked even worse, with ITV’s inflation at 15%

among adults and 30% in the 16- to 34-year-old male sector. The figures

are based on BARB/agency information.

The unabated rise in ITV’s advertising prices has led agencies such as

The Network to switch advertising revenue historically spent on ITV to

Channel 4 and cable and satellite stations to try to combat

inflation.

Major ITV advertisers such as Guinness have changed their TV buying

habits.

Alan James, TV director for The Network, said he has upped Guinness’s

advertising revenue on Channel 4 and cable and satellite by 50%. Ford

has also increased its spend in these areas.

James said: ’It’s only now you can take other courses of action because

the ITV monopoly is broken. He added that ITV’s scedule should be more

user-friendly in the face of stranded programming from Channels 4 and

5.

ITV’s scheduling on Saturday nights continued to be particularly weak,

said James.

Channel 4 has also suffered slight inflation in advertising costs for

the 16- to 34-year-old male group, but overall saw impacts rise for all

sectors in January, resulting in deflation. In February, prices remained

stable.

Earlier this month, Paul Polman, UK chief of Procter & Gamble warned

that television advertising inflation was hitting advertisers.

He said commercial television should increase the maximum amount of

advertising minutage available from seven minutes an hour to nine in

some key periods of the day.

This article was first published on Marketing