ITV Trading System Comes Under Further Scrutiny

It is understood that the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) is currently discussing with its members ways of changing the system by which TV airtime is bought for advertisers.

According to this week’s Campaign, the Society is recommending to members that they encourage their agencies to demand more guarantees of audience delivery from the broadcasters. No one was available for comment on the matter when ISBA was contacted by Newsline today.

ITV currently trades using a system of Station Average Price, which is based on a system of supply and demand. This means that there have often been times when too many advertisers are trying to buy too few viewers, driving up the cost of airtime.

Earlier in the year ISBA complained that ITV was responsible for driving up airtime inflation and wrote to advertisers requesting evidence to that effect. ITV chief executive Richard Eyre responded by saying that other channels were placing too much emphasis trading on discounts based on ITV’s Station Average Price. This, he said, was driving up airtime inflation (see ITV Accuses Rival Stations Of Causing Price Inflation).

ISBA: 0171 499 7502