New regulations will come into force from January 1, 2004 which
will hopefully relieve TV viewers from long and sometimes annoying
ads during their prime-time favorite programs.
A new regulation, which also covers radio advertising, will also
prevent the broadcasting of ads for products such as sanitary
napkins and medicine for hemorrhoids and athlete's foot during
dinnertime, as some viewers may consider them to be
"offensive."
Cutting TV programs into several parts and broadcasting
advertisements between them will also be restricted, in order to
ensure the integrity of TV programs, the regulation said.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which
issued the regulation in September, has already set up a hotline
(010-86091111) for viewers to report any violations of the
regulation.
"At least it should be less annoying than before when we were
interrupted from time to time by advertisements while watching TV,"
said retiree Gao Jinying, 64.
Although viewers stand to benefit from the new rules, some
companies and their products will lose out.
Linda Tan, planning director with United Kingdom-based
ZenithOptimedia China, said the new rule has influenced their
strategy for promoting products produced by Xi'an-Janssen
Pharmaceutical Ltd, which her company is represents.
Daktarin, a product treating fungal infections, is one of the
products her company represents which will be banned from being
shown during dinnertime.
She said that although her firm would continue to use TV in
order to promote its products to the widest possible audience, it
"will consider other media like newspapers to extend our reach to
our target audience," she said.
The new regulation sets strict limits on the total length of ads
allowed. For instance, the length of advertisements between 7 pm to
9 pm in each channel should be less than 9 minutes, or 15 per cent
of the whole program's length.
After the regulation was announced, many TV stations have soon
started to devise strategies to deal with the possible fall in
their advertising incomes next year.
The revenue of broadcasting ads during these two hours can
amount to up 70 per cent of many TV stations total advertising
revenue, said an anonymous source in the business.
Many TV stations will increase their advertising rates in order
to maintain their current incomes.
Earlier this month, Sichuan provincial TV station, half of whose
annual advertisement revenue came from these two hours, announced
that it would raise its advertising rates by an average of 30 per
cent next year.
Insiders agreed that the former practice of TV stations'
lowering prices to get more ad customers will be changed in the
future, and improving the quality of TV programs is the only way to
attract customers.
In this respect, the new regulation has in fact improved the
advertising environment and would cut the number of people changing
channels between programs, said some experts.
Statistics showed the total advertising income in China's radio
and TV sector in the year 2002 was 25.3 billion yuan (US$3
billion), most of which came from the period between 6 pm to 10
pm.
(China Daily December 31, 2003)