Tesco TV Shopping For New Sales House

Reports this morning suggest that supermarket giant, Tesco, may be struggling to gain significant revenues from its in-store TV network, Tesco TV, and is considering removing its ad sales business from incumbent JC Decaux.

According to a report by MediaGuardian, the supermarket’s ambitious network of plasma screens has failed to prove its worth, with the company holding preliminary discussions with ITV over the transfer of its advertising sales into the broadcaster’s hands.

However, ITV is understood to have declined the offer, which would have seen it manage sales across 5,500 in-store screens in 100 of Tesco’s high-profile stores.

Neither ITV nor Tesco were available to comment on the possibility of an ad sales reshuffle, although Spencer Berwin, group sales director at JC Decaux, told MediaGuardian: “There’s no tender, there are no changes, there’s nothing changing as far as that’s concerned.”

Tesco TV launched last year after trials in 2003. The service initially promised strong results, with sales increasing by an average of 10% in stores equipped with the system (see Tesco TV Trials Prove Successful For Advertisers).

The optimism surrounding the system’s launch, and the scale of the project, also led JC Decaux to create a dedicated sales team to work on the Tesco TV account (see JCDecaux Creates Dedicated Tesco TV Sales Team).

The system remains one of the most advanced of its kind, with rivals Sainsbury’s and Asda only recently beginning trials of such technology.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com JCDecaux: 020 7298 8000 www.jcdecaux.co.uk