TV advertisers may not be getting value for money if their advert is shown amongst the ‘clutter’ of too many on-air promotions (OAPs), sponsorship and programme end credits. A report just released by the Billett Consultancy has monitored the level of clutter on two major commercial TV channels for the first time and has made strong recommendations about how it should be reduced.
“We are astounded by the extent of ‘clutter’ and are concerned that advertisers’ best interests are not being protected,” said John Billett, chairman of Billetts.
The report studied two weeks of programming on Sky One and ITV London last September. Sky One was noted for having “massive” clutter weighted towards centre breaks. Billetts recommended that the volume should be reduced and the OAPs rescheduled. ITV London was found to have far less clutter.
“A rating on ITV is worth measurably more than a rating on Sky One, especially in their less cluttered centre breaks.” said the report. “We would encourage advertisers and their media buyers to take this into account when scheduling expenditure.”
The report also pointed out that “If ITV moved its OAPs in end breaks from before to after the ads, many ads would enjoy a 15% higher viewing level than is currently provided. The report found that nearly 50% of OAPs and sponsorship on the two channels appeared before the advertisements.
Long end credits were also blamed for causing large audience falls and channel switching. ITV is thought to be developing new ways of presenting end credits in response to this.
Other recommendations the report made included the suggestion that regulators should increase the level of minutage allowed in off peak time, therefore reducing advertiser costs. It also said that volume of advertising should be maintained, but through a reduction in OAPs, not at the expense of programming.
Billetts called for data on clutter to be made available to BARB, and said that until “clutter monitoring” was established, it would be using the methodology developed in this study to monitor OAPs and commercial sponsorship on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky One for its customers. John Billett concluded, “Our objective is to ensure our customers achieve competitive advantage through their advertising appearing in the better, cleaner and less cluttered environments.”
Billetts: 020 7321 4000
