Media buyers keep eye on TVNZ

Media buyers say TVNZ has lost the upper hand in the advertising market. Picture / Greg Bowker

TVNZ has told advertisers it is seeing strong demand for February and March air time, but media buyers say they are approaching bookings for the coming year with caution.

TVNZ's general manager of sales, Lauren James, said in an email that initial booking requests for commercial air time on both TV One and TV2 indicated solid demand.

"TVNZ is currently reviewing all booking requests and finalising the allocation of air time to meet this strong demand," she said.

But some media buyers have recommended advertisers hold back some of their budget in case TVNZ ratings fall further or a softening advertising market throws up bargains. Others are spreading their risks by booking with TV3 or Prime as well.

"It's a matter of who blinks first," said Michael Carney, media strategist with Mediacom. His company had not recommended clients keep any more advertising dollars aside than normal, and didn't expect any sudden erosion of TVNZ revenue - but would be paying close attention to particular spots.

"I think it's fair to say we might be avoiding spots like Close Up until we know who or what is filling that time frame."

Buyers said TVNZ had the upper hand until last July. For the two years before that slots had routinely been booked solid, and latecomers could not usually get the air time they sought. But since July, bookings have been coming free and advertisers asked if they had spare money for last-minute placements.

Mediaedge: CIA media director Di Rice said some of her clients were not fully committing their advertising budgets because of the outlook for the advertising market. "The indications are that the market is going to soften and there will undoubtedly be short-term deals," she said.

John Dee, of J. Dee Media, said even if TVNZ was reporting positive demand for early next year, that did not mean any turnaround. February was usually a high-demand month when brand campaigns begin after a retail-focused January.

"It won't be until later on ... that we see whether that demand flows on to other months," he said.

Dee said TVNZ's advertising revenue for the year to June rose by a "worryingly low" 2.7 per cent to $344.1 million, lagging overall growth for television ad revenue that he estimates at 6 per cent. He said that was due to falling ratings and an overpriced rate card - two issues TVNZ would need to rectify.

He said advertisers could read trends and allow for declining ratings, and could choose to reduce their exposure to TVNZ if they believed the broadcaster could not turn them around. If clients were committed to television, they could add Prime and TV3 to their schedules to ensure any unexpected ratings decline didn't affect campaigns.

Martin Gillman of Total Media said the disruption at TVNZ could make sponsors nervous, but so far he'd seen no evidence that any had withdrawn. But sponsors cared about ratings - and if ratings continued to fall, buyers would try to get discounts or extra value, such as more air time, out of the broadcaster, he said.