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 News From You
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Week ending June 5, 2010
On the occasion of the EU Presidency Conference organised by the Spanish Government in Madrid today on “European Media Meeting: The new Challenges”, the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (www.acte.be) expresses its view about the state of the media sector and calls for targeted and limited action by regulators at European and national level.
Speaking on behalf of the commercial broadcasting industry at the Conference, Ross Biggam, ACT Director General, stressed: “Our sector is in reasonable shape and our main plea to regulators is not for public money, but rather for regulatory forbearance and assistance in targeted areas like protection of content and fair competition against state-aided operators. If we have those elements in place, then our understanding of what viewers want to watch will deliver a vibrant, diverse European media landscape much more efficiently than any regulatory diktat”.
In this context commercial broadcasters call for action in the following fields:
§ Member States need to set clear limits with regard to the expansion of publicly-funded broadcasters into the new media environment. In particular in the field of sports rights and digital media, there is danger of a distortion of competition. A proper implementation of the Broadcasting Communication currently going on in the Member States, is of ever greater relevance for commercial broadcasters today, who have been affected strongly with regard to their advertising revenues in basically all European Member States over the last year.
§ Good quality content like 24-hours news or European programming costs money and cannot be available for free. Protection of content and strong anti-piracy measures are therefore crucial for future investment in content. In this respect commercial broadcasters highlight the importance of the recently-adopted report by MEP Marielle Gallo on enhancing the enforcement of IPR in the Internal Market, which is a positive and balanced outcome recognising the negative impact of online copyright infringements on all creative sectors and on the European economy as a whole. Respect of IPR is a necessary precondition for the success of innovative new online business models. If this is not ensured, investment in content is endangered as such.
§ Innovation is crucial to the success of our industry and the wide range of new programmes and services demonstrates the efforts made by commercial broadcasters to offer the widest choice of creative content to viewers today. In order for our sector to be able to innovate in the future, regulators need to think flexibly and address the issue of overregulation of television.
§ Digital media is a reality and there is no problem of access of content. Today we have 7200 television channels and 720 on-demand services available in Europe. Where there is consumer demand and an economic justification for it, commercial broadcasters offer their programmes and services outside of their home markets. The latest publication of the KEA-study on “Multi-territory licensing for audiovisual works in the online environment” is therefore of direct relevance for the current debate. In order to maintain a fair return on investment and ensure future production of and investment in creative content, it will be essential to maintain the current provisions on contractual freedom for licensing and exclusivity of content.
Barcelona 2nd June 2010: The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (www.iabeurope.eu) has just released the findings of its annual advertising expenditure survey for the year ending December 2009. Compiled by Screen Digest, the research covers 23 markets ranging from the mature markets of the Nordics and Western Europe to the emerging markets in Eastern and Southern Europe. Russia, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Slovakia are included in the report for the first time.
Whilst last year’s online advertising growth rate of 4.5% shows a significant slow down compared to previous reported increases of 20% in 2008 and 40% in 2007, digital was the only advertising format to experience any increase last year. Internet advertising spending continued to grow in almost all of the 23 markets measured and had a combined value of 14.7bn euros. The US market totalled 16.3bn euros for the same period.
Search continued to grow, posting a 10.8% increase on a like-for-like basis, although this was down from 26% growth the previous year. Display advertising was flat (+0.3%) and was down in most mature markets: France -6%, UK -5% and Sweden -5%. According to Vincent Létang, Senior Analyst at Screen Digest who compile the AdEx Report for IAB Europe: “Search outperformed display last year as advertisers focused on achieving return on investment through direct response formats at the expense of brand advertising. In addition, some advertisers felt online brand advertising was not yet delivering the enhanced measurement standards that they needed to justify further investment in digital campaigns, particularly given the recession. The good news for display is that the countries in the IAB Europe network are already reporting a recovery in online display in the first quarter of 2010.”
Accounting for 76% of the European online ad market in 2009, the big six markets experienced single digit growth: UK +4.6% France +1.7%, Germany +5.2%, Netherlands +1.9%, Spain +7.7% and Italy +6.5%. Growth rates were higher in Italy and Spain where online advertising started from a lower base. The growth in Spain was even more impressive when compared to the collapse of the traditional advertising market which declined -23%. Only four markets posted double-digit growth in 2009; Poland, Turkey, Austria and Greece - all starting from a low base.
Despite the slow down, online’s share of overall ad spend continued to increase significantly across Europe. The UK has the highest market share at 30%, followed by the Nordic markets at between 20% - 25% and France and Germany close to the European average of 18-19%.
Alain Heureux, President and CEO of IAB Europe concludes, “In the first recession of the digital advertising era, we have been impressed with the resilience shown by the countries in the IAB Europe network. We are at a crossroads for the online advertising market; we have a booming search market supporting traffic and sales and lead generation, and online display is ripe for further growth due in part to the success of video and social media. New techniques and business models provide the perfect platform for the next phase of online display growth. We believe the time is perfect for advertisers to move their branding campaigns online, and we have brought the leading players in the European industry together in Barcelona this week to discuss the evolution of this exciting and dynamic sector.”
MTV NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL AND PROFMEDIA RENEW DEAL FOR MTV RUSSIA - June 2, 2010
from Ekaterina Dolgosheeva/ProfMedia
Moscow/London, 2 May, 2010 – MTV Networks International (MTVNI), a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and ProfMedia Holding Co. and its subsidiary, Energia TV, today announced a multi-year agreement that will grant Energia TV the exclusive rights to continue broadcasting a free-to-air, localised MTV service in the Russian Federation.
MTV Russia first launched on 25 September 1998. According to TNS Gallup, MTV Russia covered 75% of the target 11-34 age group at the beginning of 2010. The TV channel is present in 280 towns and cities through a network of 21 own stations and 377 partner stations. The channel’s total audience was 40 million. Coverage rates built up during the recent 12 months was 75% of all urban dwellers in towns and cities with 100,000 population and larger.
In addition to television rights, MTVNI will grant Energia TV ancillary rights to the MTV brand in Russia including online, mobile and events, further expanding on the existing licensing agreement between the two companies. Besides, the contract grants Energia TV the exclusive right to broadcast all MTV ceremonies live (MTV Music Awards, MTV Movie Awards, etc.), and gives unlimited access to the MTV program catalog that lists popular shows such as Pimp My Ride, Room Raiders, Cribs and many others.
Yulia Solovyova, Executive Vice-President of ProfMedia, one of Russia’s largest and most diversified media companies said: “MTV Russia is the longest standing licensee-operated MTV service and we’re proud to be working with MTVNI to further grow and expand our partnership to include both digital media and events. Russian youth are incredibly savvy when it comes to technology and we want to ensure we remain ahead of the curve and offer our audiences multiple ways to interact with their favourite brand.”
“MTV’s global audience is larger than that of all Russian channels combined. Our job is to treat our viewers with the best of what young people watch all over the world”, says Roman Sarkisov, MTV Russia’s CEO.
Bhavneet Singh, Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Emerging Markets, MTVNI commented: “With a population of nearly 150 million people and an ever-increasing youth population of nearly 50 million, Russia continues to be a hugely important market for MTVNI to grow and develop. After 13 incredibly exciting years in the Russian market, we’re really looking forward to working with ProfMedia to take MTV to the next level and to evolve MTV into a truly 360 degree brand, thereby creating the go-to multi-platform destination for Russian youth.”
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