For Some, Advertising Is More Popular Than Ever

Michael Hedges April 11, 2016 Follow on Twitter

Advertising is a world of opportunity. With the digital space fully open, every sort of message meant to persuade can be crafted to touch just the right customer. This makes ad blockers so popular, the message being inescapable. Ad spending has recovered from the Great Recession quite nicely. And nobody turns down the money.

The first TV ad for a law firm in France was broadcast this past week, appearing on public channel France 3. Rule changes late last year by the French Conseil d’État made it possible for law firms to advertise their services on television. There are conditions: no comparative or “disparaging” messages are allowed and ads need pre-broadcast approval from self-regulatory organization ARPP. French lawyers can now advertise on any medium, the exception being SMS solicitation.

"It is likely that this new opportunity will be followed by many firms in the coming months,” said Anne-Constance Coll, head of the firm bearing her name, quoted by BFM TV (April 6). French lawyers persuaded the Conseil d’État to overturn the 2014 ban on most advertising because of competition from legal websites. The first TV spot for Maître Coll’s firm was organized by Havas Communication.

Also unforbidden by new ruling is “brand advertising” on public radio channels France Inter and France Info plus regional network France Bleu. There are also conditions: 17 minute per day per channel limit, a 3 minute limit in the morning, no retail promotions, no alcohol, no tobacco products and no single advertiser can occupy more than 15% of the total ad inventory. Since the beginning of time, actually 1987, only institutional advertising “in the public interest” has been allowed on some French public radio channels. France Culture, France Musique, FIP and Mouv’ continue without advertising. Those institutional ads, mostly public sector enterprises along with banks and insurance companies, contributed 6.5% to Radio France revenues in 2014. The current budget expects 6% of revenues from ads, roughly €40 million out of €690 million total.

“We are securing an important resource for Radio France,” said Culture Minister Andrey Azoulay, quoted by Le Figaro (April 6), “without altering the output and preserving the public service identity and not putting off listeners.” The French Ministry of Culture and Communication has public policy general oversight regarding cultural industries and media. Ms Azoulay was named minister in February as part of a cabinet shake-up. The decision to allow brand advertising on some Radio France channels was announced in mid-March after agreement from independent media regulator Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA).

There is, still, something of a budget problem at Radio France. The shortfall this year is expected to be €16.5 million, a slight improvement from €21 million in 2015. Budget talks last year between Radio France president Mathieu Gallet and then Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin were reported as “frosty,” said BFM TV (August 28, 2015), as the government demanded more austerity from Radio France to break-even by 2017.

In addition to brand advertising on the three French public radio channels, ad and sponsorship cooperation with public TV broadcaster France Télévisions is now allowed. Radio France and France Télévisions are organized and managed separately though, union resistance aside, further cooperation if not outright merger is a possibility.

The first joint ad selling efforts, reported ozap.fr (April 6), will be sponsorship TV, radio and internet coverage of the 69th Cannes Film Festival and a regional ad package through the France Bleu and France 3 networks.

Raising the household license fee, public broadcaster’s traditional revenue source, is a political non-starter in France, as much as it is elsewhere. The last four French Ministers of Culture, Ms Azoulay being the fifth, walked back from measures that might either raise the license fee or, more recently, extend the contribution to laptop and smartphone owners. Most European public broadcasters sell ads, some far more than others.

UK public broadcaster BBC and Finnish public broadcaster YLE are notable exceptions: no ads. A recent report by Reuters Institute (March 29) found the BBC and YLE the top digital innovators among European public broadcasters. With certain regularity proposals arise to end advertising on public radio and television channels, typically from politicians seeking favor from private sector media owners.

Total ad revenues in France is expected to grow 0.3% this year over last, to €10.386 billion, reported Magna Global. The share for radio is expected to be 6.5% or €673 million, down 4.5% year on year. Watched by all, digital advertising, from search and videos to social and mobile, is expected to eclipse TV advertising this year, €3.398 billion versus €3.286 billion, respectively.

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