TEN opposes Seven’s push for more ad time

There’s been a fair bit of media discussion about a push by the Seven Network to extend commercial breaks, currently limited to 13 minutes per hour.

Yesterday the idea of more ads ignited media articles and talkback radio discussion.

Nine is said to be supportive of the move but TEN, which trails both in ad revenue, is against the move.

Seven is arguing that the rules for their primary channel differ from those of their multichannels and that the system is outdated.

Primary channels can play 13 minutes of ads per hour between 6pm – midnight, which extends to 14 minutes during elections. They have the flexibility to play up to 15 minutes in one hour.

On Multichannels they are allowed up to 16 minutes per hour.

A Seven spokesperson said, “The current rules are a little out-dated and this is really just about allowing more flexibility in scheduling advertising and not running two sets of traffic systems across the various channels. We would not envisage any significant uplift in overall advertising minutes out of the changes.”

Curiously neither Seven nor Nine is arguing for the opposite, to bring multichannel rules in line with primary channels. Only the reverse.

But TEN is opposed to the move.

“We are strongly opposed to any increase in the amount of advertising in prime time programs. Such a move would disenfranchise the audience and damage the viewing experience,” a TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight.

While that’s a position that will stop the revenue gap from widening, it’s also one that will likely win them a round of audience applause.

“We’re always aware there can be too much ad content from time to time, and the viewers are very conscious of it, so there needs to be a balance. It’s under careful ­review,” Free TV chairman Harold Mitchell has said.

However the time limits don’t include some non-program matter including community service announcements, sponsorship announcements, programming information of less than 30 seconds, channel IDs, trailers that run before credits, Freeview ads and assorted matter.

The push for more advertising also comes at a time when there are still no local content minimums on multichannels. In March TV bosses lobbied Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to axe licence fees claiming they held a “special” place in the community (that’s after governments had waived the fees because they were feeling the pinch). Meanwhile they are gearing up to attract new revenue through HbbTV platforms and streaming content.

Source: The Australian, Guardian Australia