Expanded TV3 and RTE to battle it out for ads
Agencies expect competition for advertising to intensify in the year ahead as TV3 takes back Coronation Street and develops its brand-new station be3, writes Samantha McCaughren
RTE will face a new challenge from an enlarged TV3 Group next year, as the commercial broadcaster develops its new station be3 and capitalises on the return of Coronation Street and Emmerdale to the main channel, according to ad agencies.
Media buyers estimate that TV advertising will finish up 3pc for 2016, around half the level predicted at the start of the year.
A modest level of growth is predicted for 2017 and competition for this additional revenue will be intense.
Unlike 2016, sports will not be the main battleground, but drama, entertainment and the soaps will be the key genres fighting for audiences.
Frankie Carty, broadcast director with Core Media, one of the country’s largest ad agencies, said: “TV3 will have three channels each with a very distinct identity and designed to complement each other but also importantly to advertisers they will appeal to specific demographics.”
“Currently all three channels combined have a larger supply of commercial impacts for a number of key audiences versus RTE,” he said.
“If Virgin Media, its new owner, invests and grows these channels further then the combined grouping is going to prove to be real competition.”
He said that 3e had the potential to be ‘really interesting’, having already established itself as a strong small channel, successfully delivering younger audiences which traditionally are hard to reach.
However, he said that be3, formerly UTV Ireland would have challenges.
“It is essentially the rebranded version of UTV Ireland minus the soap content that was one of the only things that delivered significant figures for UTV,” he said. “Without this I’m not sure exactly where this channel will fit.”
Peter McPartlin of ad agency Mediacom said that 2016 had been a year of immense change in broadcasting. “It’s hard to remember a time when there have been so many interesting developments across ownership, senior personnel, content partnerships and new tech, within such a short period.”
“In the last few weeks, agencies and clients have begun to see the initial impact of TV3’s new three-channel strategy with TV3 parking its tanks on RTE1 for the older ‘middle-Ireland’ audience,” he said. “Meanwhile 3e is being reshaped as a younger alternative and the yet to be seen be3, focusing on women.”
However, he said challenges would lie ahead for TV3 Group.
“It would be foolish to write off RTE under the new stewardship of Dee Forbes. They have the advantage of 55 years of competitive experience and the inertia and habit of major parts of the viewing audience to their landmark shows.”
Willie O’Reilly, commercial director of RTE said that shows such as Dancing with the Stars and new legal drama Striking Out, would give the broadcaster a strong start to 2017.
In the current year, advertising was up in the first half but weakened after the Brexit vote.
“The first part of the year was up in double digits,” he said. He believed RTE had been ahead of the market due to the Euros, 1916 commemoration coverage and the election.
“Overall, the year ended up 2/3pc and we had been hoping for about 7pc growth,” he said. While there was an ‘immediate retreat’ after the Brexit vote, purse strings loosened in November and December, he said. “The Late Late Show did very, very good business.” He said for 2017, he expects domestic advertising will continue to do well, with the year delivering growth of 2/3pc. Carty agreed with O’Reilly’s prediction for 2017: “Looking into next year, we would expect the modest growth to continue, this is obviously still very tentative though and its dependent upon the general economic conditions.”