ONLINE BUSINESSES BOOMING ON TV; GLOBAL FIGURES REVEAL THE IMPORTANCE OF TV ADVERTISING TO ONLINE BUSINESSES

14. 6. 2018 Figures from around the world show the extent to which online businesses are now investing in TV advertising, in some countries becoming the biggest investors in TV.

AGREEMENT REACHED ON NEW MEDIA SERVICES DIRECTIVE (AVMSD)

26. 4. 2018 EP negotiators and the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU agreed on substantial rules for audiovisual media services, including digital platforms, on Thursday evening.</strong

ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION STARTED A DIALOGUE WITH ADVERTISERS AND GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION

12. 4. 2018 In the first year of its existence, the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) set two main goals: to spread awareness among advertisers about television being a key advertising mediatype and to do so through marketing activities as well as to engage in law-making processes with a direct impact on commercial television business. During its first year, AKTV also joined the Chamber of Commerce, where it has been an active member of the Creative Industry Section, and it also became an associate member of the EGTA Association, which brings together television and radio media representatives. The Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) was formed in spring 2017, in response to the growing need to defend and promote the common interests of commercial broadcasters in the Czech Republic. The founding members of the Association are the Nova, Prima and Óčko television networks and the first presidential mandate was headed by Jan Vlček from Nova. As part of its marketing activities, in response to frequent unsubstantiated statements made by global players in online advertising, AKTV focused on direct communication with the most important advertisers in the Czech Republic. In the first year of its existence, AKTV organized two educational seminars for senior management of the largest advertisers as well as for CEOs and marketing directors. The common denominator of both conferences were exceptional foreign speakers and premium and highly relevant content. Les Binet, a renowned expert and an author of marketing books from the adam & eve DDB London agency, gave a lecture at the first conference, and Karen Nelson-Field, an Australian university professor and researcher, presented the results of her latest research, which compares the performance of television and online advertising, at the second conference. AKTV will continue with its activities this year so as to respond to the demand of the advertisers for relevant and undistorted information on the current status of the individual mediatypes and the trends in their use.

EUROPEAN SALES HOUSES URGE LEGISLATORS TO STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE IN THE FINAL AVMS DIRECTIVE NEGOTIATIONS

26. 3. 2018 The European Commission’s proposal for a revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive in May 2016 promised to create a fairer environment for all players, to ensure adequate protection for consumers, especially children, to sustain the production of original European content and to introduce more flexibility on the advertising rules for broadcasters. The original proposal was a step in the right direction and was welcomed as such by European sales houses and broadcasters, in particular the flexibility on advertising time as well as the simplification and liberalisation of the rules on sponsorship and product placement. As the trilogue negotiations come to a conclusion, egta members would like to urge decision-makers to keep those initial objectives in mind when agreeing on the final balance of the text. Broadcasters are increasingly concerned at the potential erosion of what was a modest evolution of the rules in the first place. Since the publication of the initial proposal, online advertising sales have been growing steadily and in 2016 became the main media for advertisements on a pan-European level, with €36.8 billion in revenue, surpassing TV advertising (€31.4 billion)1. As things stand, apart from the moderate liberalisation of the advertising time, there will be little to no discernible flexibility in the qualitative advertising rules, the articles on sponsorship and product placement and the other linear specific advertising provisions. We strongly urge the Parliament, Member States and the Commission to take the opportunity of the final trilogue meetings to ensure that this revision process delivers on its original objectives of a competitive, creative and safe European audiovisual landscape. This could be achieved by introducing measures safeguarding broadcasters’ signal integrity, simplifying the rules on product placement and sponsorship as per the Commission proposal, liberalising isolated adverting spots in article 19.2 and ensuring that no further measures adversely impact broadcasters’ current revenue streams. To secure a robust level of consumer protection, a fair environment for business and competition with other actors, all content providers, including video sharing platforms, should also adhere to the basic advertising principles in articles 9, 10 and 11. In a fast-changing market place where all content providers, both online and offline, linear and non-linear, are competing for audience and advertising revenues, qualitative prescriptions should be simplified and harmonised in order to secure a more equal environment, so that the financing of quality content shall be sustainable in the longer term. As noted throughout the studies that informed the Commission’s impact assessment, Europeans have never been presented with more choice of audiovisual content. It is in this context that broadcasters need to secure future proof revenue streams that will allow them to continue offering the content that viewers expect and are interested in. Therefore, the European audiovisual sector needs a regulatory environment that reflects the current market place, provides proportionate and balanced rules and will remain relevant as technological developments occur. We strongly believe that simplification and legal certainty in the AVMSD will match those objectives. egta is the association representing television and radio sales houses that market the advertising space of both private and public television and radio stations throughout Europe and beyond. egta counts 140 members across 40 countries. www.egta.com 1 The EU online advertising market – Update 2017, European Audiovisual Observatory, 2017.

PROFIT ABILITY: THE BUSINESS CASE FOR ADVERTISING

22. 3. 2018 ‘Profit Ability’ has, for the first time, quantified the total profit generated by different forms of advertising in the UK, to show what they deliver to the bottom line. It set out to examine and benchmark all media’s profit-generating performance, with a particular emphasis on uncovering TV advertising’s effects. In brief What emerges is a compelling case for re-thinking how advertising investmZobrazit příspěvekent should be approached and hard evidence of what businesses can trust to deliver growth. Following a profit-damaging drift to short-termism in marketing, ‘Profit Ability’ swings the spotlight back on to creating shareholder value. It provides industry benchmarks, based on empirical evidence across a substantial range of advertisers, for what businesses can expect advertising to deliver. It shows that advertising – TV in particular – should be used as a powerful investment for growth.

CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING: WHEN IT WORKS AND WHEN IT DOESN’T

9. 3. 2018 Do highly creative ads really inspire people to buy products? Studies have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products, but there’s little evidence linking those messages to purchase behavior. To address this gap, Reinartz and Saffert developed a consumer survey approach that measures perceived creativity along five dimensions—originality, flexibility, elaboration, synthesis, and artistic value—and applied the approach in a study of 437 TV ad campaigns for 90 fast-moving consumer goods brands in Germany. The study then linked the assessments to sales figures for the products.

ADVERTISING ON TV GETS MORE ATTENTION THAN ON YT OR FB

6. 2. 2018 This is based on research that has found a correlation between the attention paid to advertising and its impact on the sale of goods.

THE MEDIA MARKET SUPPORTS THE NEW AMENDMENT TO THE PHARMACEUTICALS ACT WHICH GOVERNS ADVERTISING

23. 1. 2018 Media operators and advertising agencies from professional associations support the new amendment to the Pharmaceuticals Act, which will be voted on at the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies on Friday and which proposes to repeal the latest amendment to the Act on Regulation of Advertising. In the last year, the Act on Regulation of Advertising was amended as a rider to the Pharmaceuticals Act. The responsibility for the compliance of advertising content with the law was extended to the broadcasters and it concerns selected types of product – medicinal products for human use, food supplements and foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses and for infant nutrition. Until then, it had only been the subjects, which had helped create the advertising content, who had been responsible for the compliance of advertising of such products with the law, as is the case with other types of products. The amendment seeks to return to the original form of the Act on Regulation of Advertising. The problematic amendment, which introduced the joint liability of the disseminator of advertising for the compliance of the advertising content (medicinal products for human use, food supplements and foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses and for infant nutrition) with the law, has been effective since April 2017. The amendment has not contributed to increasing the level of consumer protection. Instead, it has proved to be easily misused in the competitive fight among the producers of the products concerned. In the spring of last year, the entire media sector warned that extending the responsibility for the compliance of advertising content with the law to the disseminator of advertising could not contribute to increasing the level of consumer protection. The reason for this is that the advertisers do not have any professional qualification or legal tools to gather the necessary background information that would help them professionally assess, for instance, whether the advertised product actually strengthens one’s immune system or not.

KEY MEDIA ALLIANCES CELEBRATE THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF TV ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD TELEVISION DAY

27. 11. 2017 The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) and egta, the association of television and radio sales houses are celebrating the trustworthiness of television on the occasion of World Television Day (21 November), as declared by the United Nations. This year again, the three organisations have produced a 30-second video clip emphasising the role TV has around the world as provider of trusted content. It will be aired by broadcasters across Europe, Asia, Canada, USA and Australia on 21 November. To celebrate their love of television, viewers are encouraged to use the hashtags #WeloveTV and #WorldTVDay on social networks on 21 November. The video highlights that now, more than ever, the trustworthiness of television plays a central part in our daily lives as it keeps viewers up to date on what is going on at home and abroad and brings the world’s attention to what matters. Editorial responsibility, truthful reporting, top quality content, the safest environment and the reliable, independent measurement system are the DNA of TV. This makes it a unique medium for world-class content and a fully brand-safe environment… no matter on which device.

CZECH TELEVISION MARKET HAS GROWN BY 5% IN RECENT YEARS

29. 3. 2017 Performances of the main commercial broadcasters show, however, that the market has not returned above the pre-2008 level. The Czech television market in 2014 and 2015 rose in net investments by less than 5%. The comparison, based on economic results (performance) of the main commercial players in Czech television market (Nova Group, Prima Group, Barrandov Group), also shows that in total the television market volume has not returned above the 2008 level. On the other hand, 2015 had the second best result of the observed period of time. In 2015, which is so far the last year with available data regarding the three subjects, the total performance of the companies CET 21, FTV Prima and Barrandov Televizní Studio reached 8.5 billion Czech Crowns. Compare this to 2014, when it was almost 400 million Czech Crowns. As compared to 2008, however, the 2015 result is behind by 1.3 billion Czech Crowns. After 2013, which was affected by TV Nova´s business policy, which led to decrease in advertising investments (-5 %), the market started to grow again the following year. It continued for two subsequent years, during which the total performances of the main players in the commercial market increased by just under 5%. According to existing prognosis, growth in several percent is also expected for 2017.