Advertisers lobby for better protection on the broadcasting dial

The CRTC should allow advertising on video-on-demand programs, maintain the 12-minute per hour advertising cap on specialty shows and limit the number of discretionary services a company can own. It's a wish list the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) - often the forgotten stakeholder in the broadcasting industry - will be pitching to the CRTC at next month's BDU and specialty hearing. When it comes to regulatory proceedings, advertisers are often an afterthought behind broadcasters, BDUs and producers. But ACA argues they are as crucial as any other piece of the system. "Though our interest in television broadcasting is essentially a commercial one, our role being somewhat like that of a silent financial partner, we feel strongly that we have made a long-term investment in commercial broadcasting as an advertising medium," wrote the ACA in its submission on the upcoming hearing. "We want to protect that investment." Part of protecting that investment is ensuring it always exists as a medium for advertisers, even as viewing shifts to an on-demand platform. "Shouldn't viewers have the option to pay the full price for , pay half price and take a couple of ads, or take four or five ads and not pay anything?" asks Bob Reaume, ACA's VP of policy and research. "The whole broadcast system in terms of content is changing and if the commission wants advertisers support to continue for drama, we think is where it's going so lets allow us to provide a supportive role in the future." But advertisers also want to ensure there is value in television, which Reaume says is reduced if the amount of advertising per hour is increased. Despite ACA opposition, the commission last year lifted the cap off the 12-minute per hour advertising limit during primetime for conventional broadcasters. Now that the regulator is considering a similar move on the specialty side, Reaume hopes the ACA's voice doesn't fall on deaf ears again. "Sixteen minutes an hour of commercials is a much different environment for commercials," says Reaume. "It's clutter for us. And if they're going to increase the inventory, only those broadcasters with the top 20 shows will benefit because they will sell out to the increased limit." Reaume says he'd prefer more stations offering fewer commercials, which provides a better environment for consumers. But as far as more stations goes, he says with all of the consolidation that's taken place over the last couple of years it's time the commission put a hard cap on the number of specialty channels any one entity can own. "Generally speaking, if you want a male target group there's no one but CTVglobemedia that you can really go to," says Reaume. He adds that the recent Diversity of Voices ruling, which prohibits a broadcast group from making a transaction that results in control of more than 45% of national market share, is useful to that end, it's not foolproof. "It depends on what you call a market. Males 19 to 24 are a market, but it doesn't apply to that. It applies to broadcast entities, not to advertising demographics, so there's the disconnect for us." Reaume contends that advertisers, BDUs and broadcasters can all benefit from advertising on VOD platforms, but as with many issues, he doubts the other two sides will cooperate. "The logjam that's taking place here is it's two industries that have traditionally been sort of positional and confrontational, and that's a hard obstacle to leap over."

Advertisers lobby for better protection on the broadcasting dial

News | 03/18/2008 1:49 pm EDT

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