The UK’s Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services (COBA) has hit out at Ofcom’s proposal to allow public sector broadcasters to run more ads. While Ofcom’s decision isn’t final, it said back in April that it intends to adjust rules to allow PSBs to run an average of nine minutes of ads per hour (up from a current limit of seven minutes). While such a change would give PSBs’ ad revenues a boost, COBA says it would result in a decline in PSB news output, while also harming smaller broadcasters.
COBA executive director Adam Minns said the trade group is “vehemently opposed” to the idea, stating that the proposals are “ill-thought out and unnecessary, and are not even supported by all public service broadcasters”.
But while COBA focused on the impact on news coverage in its statement opposing the change, the effect it would have on non-PSBs’ ad revenues is presumably the primary reason behind its opposition. No PSBs are full members of COBA – Channel 5 owner Viacom is an associate member, and ITV, STV, and Channel 4 aren’t involved at all.
No news is bad news
COBA’s statement was accompanied by a report on the impact of Ofcom’s proposed changes on PSBs’ news output.
While PSBs are currently limited to an average of seven minutes of ads per hour overall, they are allowed to allocate ad time differently across different parts of the day. During peak hours, they can run a maximum of eight minutes of ads per hour, and no more than 12 minutes of ads within any individual hour of programming.
Separately, PSBs are also required to broadcast news content during peak hours.
Citing data from BARB and media researcher Oliver & Ohlbaum, COBA’s report says that PSBs currently run limited ads during their news content in order to be able to run 12 minutes of ads during more popular peak hours content, while still averaging out at eight minutes of ads across peak hours. ITV for example runs an average of just over four minutes of ads between 18:00-19:00, and around two minutes between 22:00-23:00 – the two slots during which it runs news shows. During the remaining peak hours, it runs around 11 minutes of ads per hour.
If Ofcom’s proposed changes came into force, PSBs would be able to broadcast an average of 12 minutes of ads across peak hours. But COBA says that since PSBs are already running 12 minutes of ads during other slots, they would likely maximise their ad load during news hours. COBA calculates that this would result in up to 27.5 fewer minutes of peak hours news content being broadcast on a typical weekday.
“The result will be to erode the most important aspect of the public service broadcasting system: news,” said COBA’s Adam Minns. “Ofcom should be protecting audiences and news programming, not suggesting changes that puts news at risk or harm the viewing experience.”
Interests at odds
This risk won’t be news to Ofcom – the suggestion that news output might decline as a result of the rule change was raised in a consultation released by the regulator.
And while the point may be a valid one, COBA clearly has skin in the game. If PSBs are able to run more ads on their linear channels, this creates more inventory which is competitive with non-PSB broadcasters’ inventory. At the same time it could have a deflationary effect on the UK linear TV ad market, via the increase in supply. Both of these would be negatives for the broadcasters which COBA represents.
COBA’s statement, as much as anything else, is an indicator of the tough straits broadcasters are currently in. The PSBs themselves are dealing with falling linear ad revenues, and Ofcom’s proposals represent something of a lifeline, offering up a potential revenue boost. But such a move could further imperil non-PSB broadcasters, who are dealing with the same tough linear TV ad market, without the reach and pulling power of the PSBs.
COBA clearly sees this as an existential threat for some smaller commercial channels, saying the move would threaten their viability.
