For the first time in a few years, something stirred in the matter of filling advertising blocks on TV. For a long time, market participants have been used to the fact that televisions sell all available advertising time: 12 minutes per hour. Only public television has a smaller fill, and this is only because some programs cannot be interrupted by advertising blocks.
The first quarter of 2019 brought a change in the filling, it fell the most in TVN by 8%, in TVP by 2%, in Polsat by 1%. The fall in the filling is, in our opinion, the effect of the continuation of the policy of raising prices by all TV stations (about the increase in prices in trade policies, we wrote in the news of 8.02.2019) and the market reaction to this increase (stoppage of budgets).
However, TVN is the biggest drop in the number of advertising blocks, and is most likely caused by trade policy – the resignation from the sale of GRP packages on the main channel (TVN sells time only in the more expensive, rate card form of sale and as part of the TVN MAX package, together with TVN7). The change in the form of sales of time in TVN caused much higher inflation of the cost in this station than it results from the inflation of the rate card itself.
If we calculate inflation from package costs from the first quarter of 2018 to the cost of list prices from the first quarter of 2019, it amounts to as much as 29%. Such high inflation of prices turned out to be a deterrent for advertisers, especially those who used the package form of time purchase.
In the long-term perspective, we can expect TVN to adjust its rate card policy, not to deflate prices, but with rate card costs lower than it was originally planned for inflation. It is also worth noting that TVN, despite the lack of filling in advertising blocks, did not react with additional discounted sales discounts.
Update 19.04.2019:
In line with our expectations, TVN has reduced prices for May by an average of 12%: tvnmedia.pl/aktualnosci/tvn/biuro-reklamy-tvn-media-otwiera-sprzedaz-reklam-w-tvn-na-05-19
Source: Nielsen Audience Measurement, Arianna, 1-3.2017, 1-3.2018