Does ITV Serve Us Right?

This question, which was raised at the ISBA conference yesterday, provoked a spirited response from representatives of three major sectors of the advertising industry. Dominic Proctor, Chief Executive of JWT, believed he was airing a universal view when he commented that more and more agencies are worried about quality programming. The demand for ABC1s has grown by 11% over the last ten years, however the number of hours watched by ABC1s has not changed, and there is a considerable gap between the demand for on the part of advertisers and actual supply of ABC1s by ITV’s network scheduling. It was a concern for advertising agencies that ITV is provoking advert fatigue in target audiences by screening too many advertisements, however he stressed that agencies should not be given the power to dictate scheduling. He conceded that ITV has come a long way recently, but still has a long way to go.

Laurence Haslehurst, Media & Marketing Services Manager, Pedigree Petfoods, in his reply said that what ITV has achieved is quite remarkable and the advertising market itself is the problem. He believes that advertising rates are too high and perhaps agencies are not exploiting all the marketing opportunities, such as sponsorship, which have been provided for them by ITV. On the whole, the commercial television situation is stable but he believes that there is too much power in too few hands.

Andrew Quinn, Chief Executive, ITV Network, stated his case by quoting back to the Broadcasting Act of 1990, saying that ITV had to be all things to all men. He stressed that ITV is working, with 60% of the net revenue being reinvested and a bigger budget for drama than both BBC1 and BBC2 put together. However he conceded that ITV’s main problem was their lack of communication with the advertising agencies and they must look to develop better relationships with advertisers.