TEN opposes Seven’s push for more ad time
Now there's a headline we never expected to see.
- Published by David Knox
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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is arguing that the rules for their primary channel differ from those of their multichannels and that the system is outdated.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
29 Responses
This doesn’t bother me in the slightest as I record everything I watch and view it at my own pleasure, skipping all the ads.
It amazes me that people even still watch live TV, the VCR was invented over 20 years ago and we now have PVRs.
I’m not going to waste 15 minutes an hour of my limited life on Earth watching this corporate drivel designed to extricate every last dollar from my wallet.
@Pertinax, you’ve got it the wrong way around. If they still have to average 13 minutes, but are allowed 16, they will put 16 minutes of ads on when there’s a big show (ie XFactor, Voice, Masterchef) and fewer ads on later at night when there are smaller audiences to meet the 13 minute average.
Interestingly I record Top Gear on GO! — the variation in the length of that programme is astonishing (more than 10minutes) depending on whether it’s the prime time showing or a repeat later on.
Not a fan of ads. I always mute until the program comes back on or I change the channel to a different one and change it back after 3 minutes. Same thing with radio. I guess its their choice but I wouldn’t be surprised if viewers left because of this……
@ Michael Young…I agree…I love the Meerkats….and there are other ads I like…but I buy what I want, like and need….not just because it is on the tele….
Then there are ads like the fencer whose wife is having a baby…it is everywhere…not just on TV….makes me want to scream..I mute or turn off.
In a shrinking market the only way to squeeze more revenue out is to increase the ad time per hour. It will end up like American FTA which is total crap.
Hahahaha well they are right, it is outdated! That is why I will never ever watch sport on FTA if it is available, ad free, on Fox. Come to think of it, you know what else is outdated, not showing sport in glorious HD!
I would actually like to see the ads length reduced, possibly limit the ad length to 15-20 seconds, I cant stand watching a really long annoying ad over and over again, it makes me hate the ad,
I dont care if they then increase the amount of ad time per hour
“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”
Who writes this garbage for them….its a simple cash grab…..oh and yeah the last I heard Traffic Systems are normally used for roads etc….
Traffic is a common advertising term.
Seven and Nine are trying to exploit Ten’s weakness by raising the stakes before Ten’s revenue share recovers. Ten will veto it, and the ACMA may not have signed off on it anyway.
The limit is 15m/h (+1 during an election for political ads) between 6pm and Midnight on the main channel as long as they average 13m/h each night. So this would only increase ads later when hardly anybody is watching.
They are allowed 16m/h otherwise except during C +P shows.
Sponsored shopping “advice” is counted as programming content not ads which should be changed.
I hate the ad breaks on fta tv!
It’s the bane of my tv viewing experience!
There are too many ads!
And the constant station cross promotion is just as bad!
We watch tv for the programs not the ads!
I have counted up to 13 ads in one ad break!
It’s not good enough!
Simple answer: No! No more add time! Simples!
Maybe put them all together in the middle of the show and we can all go and get a cup of tea … when will they ever learn that no-one actually watches the adds? Except for the Meerkat adds, they are brilliant, but I would never use the product they sell! 🙂 Poor Sergei! 🙁
With a lot a drama programs produced to run an hour including ads, surely anyone increase to ad allowance would mean we would see less news, current affairs and the like? No doubt it would stretch out already padded reality shows too.
This is ridiculous! If they want to talk about outdated.
The $ they are not earning from TV is the move of viewers towards recording (this was going on in the 80’s in my house since the Video casette recorder could do the same things as a PVR)
It will force me to either avoid new shows on 7 to avoid ads.
Anyway shows do not start on time now and have too many adverts in Prime Time.
Well Done for 10 for challenging this. Or maybe 10 will become more popular due to less adverts?!?
Does anyone ever monitor the ad breaks on FTA? When I was watching The Blacklist I got so frustrated with the constant breaks I timed them; channel 7 were having 7 minutes of program to each 6 minutes of ads for the entire “hour” (I use the term loosely as it always ran way over so we could have more ads and a “sneak peak” of something-or-other). So I started watching it on their Catchup channel but gave up when they introduced ads there too. Really, FTA are their own worst enemy, do they realise that?
How about 60 minutes per hour? That seems to be where everything is headed.
Seven should listen to TEN, they know all about pissing off an audience. They made an art of it.
Wouldn’t it be much better to have half as many ads and charge twice as much? Exclusivity for advertisers and better for viewers.
Seven should change their name to Sev$$$en !!
I’m not surprised the money hungry 7 is pushing for this.
I’m the same as others on here, I don’t watch much live after 7:30 due to ads. I’ll usually watch the first half hour of The Project and then Home and Away (although I hate ad breaks during Home and Away – always promoting Xfactor to death and whatever they have on at 7:30! Drives me insane!!!). Then I just tend to watch recorded programs to skip ads or new content airing on Foxtel (who knows why I pay for ads either!).
Does the 13 minutes per hour include all the info commercials? They seem to run for at least 4 minutes on morning television and then you have to endure about 4 minutes or so of normal commercials. Studio10 seems to be more info commercials than actual show in the first hour especially. Drives me crazy!
So, I’m guessing Seven and Nine want to further kill their eroding audience and push more people to streaming and downloading? Oh, and calling the current rules “outdated” is a lititle pot kettle black…
13min per hour? What planet are they living on??
I have regularly timed ad breaks in the past and they are collectively around 17-18 min for an hour long show.
There was even a couple of episodes of Lost that clocked up to 20min!
With the increase in ads on their catch up sites this move doesn’t surprise me. Very wrong.
All that is going to do is push people towards recording – which means the ads will be skipped. The only television I really watch “live” is The Project – quite often I’ll record stuff at 7:30 – have a bath then begin watching once I’m out.
I was surfing between The Block & X Factor last night (& Sunday night) but I never got to see any X Factor as Seven would already be on a break when I turned over & would still be on a break when I turned
back to The Block.
This must be a turn off to Seven viewers. How do they get away with it?