"TV advertising is the trend"
For TV advertisers, restraint in advertising is a thing of the past: Publisuisse CEO Martin Schneider expects 5 percent growth in 2004.
Publisuisse CEO Martin Schneider expects five percent growth in 2004.WW Publisuisse's 8 percent increase in sales in the first quarter of 2004 almost takes us back to the boom times. Do you expect the steep upward trend to continue in the further course of the year?Martin Schneider I expect a good year. However, I doubt whether the upward trend will be able to maintain its current pace. I could well imagine that we will see growth in the region of five percent by the end of the year.
percent. However, this requires the economy and consumer sentiment to develop well. Up to and including
Our booking levels look very good for the summer months, but I'm not quite sure about fall and winter yet.
Television advertising is in the fast lane in Switzerland. Between 2002 and 2003, it was able to increase its share of total advertising spending from 17.1 to 18.4 percent. In 2004, further gains in market share are on the horizon. How much growth do you expect?
Television is in vogue with advertising clients. I am convinced that it will also take an additional share of the advertising pie this year. However, I don't dare to predict exactly how much this will be.
A trend known as the "escape from the advertising block" could have a negative impact: customer wishes for TV advertising are increasingly moving towards special forms of advertising and advertising embedded in the program. However, some doors will remain closed to public broadcasters due to stricter advertising restrictions.
TV as a means of mass communication will continue to live primarily through the advertising block in the future. In addition, the so-called flight towards special forms of advertising is a long-term phenomenon that will not turn TV advertising upside down overnight.
However, even Publisuisse will not be able to completely escape the desire to move closer to the program.
The legal requirements demand that we keep editorial and commercial content strictly separate. However, we can also offer innovative options in the area of advertising blocks or with cross-media packages for major events. For example, entire blocks can be reserved for a single customer. We are already very innovative in this area, for example with the "Mittwochstudio" or "Telescoop".
In contrast to private broadcasters, there are currently practically no sales programs on SRG channels. Are such programs conceivable in the future?
Broadcasts such as the Mediashop are sometimes used by the stations concerned as fillers, at a lower price per second. This often involves a business model based on participation in sales. We don't want that. Our commercial strategy is to sell advertising time at the normal rate, not to fill it at any price. Sales programs are a typical format for commercial broadcasters who need to fill their advertising blocks.
This means that sales programs on SRG stations will not have a chance in the future either?they are not a priority for us at the moment, but I don't want to rule them out completely for the future either. One conceivable strategy would be to reserve a clearly defined time slot for sales programs. However, broadcasters financed by license fees are confronted with a fundamental problem. Many viewers say to themselves: I don't pay fees to have to watch sales programs.
Public broadcasters also have a better image due to their lower advertising volumes. This was impressively demonstrated by the latest Publisuisse advertising impact study. According to this study, the public develops a real aversion to too much TV advertising. Nevertheless, channels with a lot of advertising are also watched intensively.
It would be completely wrong to read a general aversion to TV advertising out of the study. Our study also shows that the public is generally more relaxed about TV advertising than is commonly believed. With our study, we wanted to
only peel out where the memory of the advertising is better. And this is the case with shorter blocks.
Interview: Daniel Schifferle
percent. However, this requires the economy and consumer sentiment to develop well. Up to and including
Our booking levels look very good for the summer months, but I'm not quite sure about fall and winter yet.
Television advertising is in the fast lane in Switzerland. Between 2002 and 2003, it was able to increase its share of total advertising spending from 17.1 to 18.4 percent. In 2004, further gains in market share are on the horizon. How much growth do you expect?
Television is in vogue with advertising clients. I am convinced that it will also take an additional share of the advertising pie this year. However, I don't dare to predict exactly how much this will be.
A trend known as the "escape from the advertising block" could have a negative impact: customer wishes for TV advertising are increasingly moving towards special forms of advertising and advertising embedded in the program. However, some doors will remain closed to public broadcasters due to stricter advertising restrictions.
TV as a means of mass communication will continue to live primarily through the advertising block in the future. In addition, the so-called flight towards special forms of advertising is a long-term phenomenon that will not turn TV advertising upside down overnight.
However, even Publisuisse will not be able to completely escape the desire to move closer to the program.
The legal requirements demand that we keep editorial and commercial content strictly separate. However, we can also offer innovative options in the area of advertising blocks or with cross-media packages for major events. For example, entire blocks can be reserved for a single customer. We are already very innovative in this area, for example with the "Mittwochstudio" or "Telescoop".
In contrast to private broadcasters, there are currently practically no sales programs on SRG channels. Are such programs conceivable in the future?
Broadcasts such as the Mediashop are sometimes used by the stations concerned as fillers, at a lower price per second. This often involves a business model based on participation in sales. We don't want that. Our commercial strategy is to sell advertising time at the normal rate, not to fill it at any price. Sales programs are a typical format for commercial broadcasters who need to fill their advertising blocks.
This means that sales programs on SRG stations will not have a chance in the future either?they are not a priority for us at the moment, but I don't want to rule them out completely for the future either. One conceivable strategy would be to reserve a clearly defined time slot for sales programs. However, broadcasters financed by license fees are confronted with a fundamental problem. Many viewers say to themselves: I don't pay fees to have to watch sales programs.
Public broadcasters also have a better image due to their lower advertising volumes. This was impressively demonstrated by the latest Publisuisse advertising impact study. According to this study, the public develops a real aversion to too much TV advertising. Nevertheless, channels with a lot of advertising are also watched intensively.
It would be completely wrong to read a general aversion to TV advertising out of the study. Our study also shows that the public is generally more relaxed about TV advertising than is commonly believed. With our study, we wanted to
only peel out where the memory of the advertising is better. And this is the case with shorter blocks.
Interview: Daniel Schifferle
