Advertisers losing audience in RP due to too many commercials

By ISAGANI DE CASTRO,
JR.
abs-cbnNEWS.com/New
sbreak
The Philippines has
too many
advertisements on
television, and
consumers have
adapted to it by
changing channels and
returning to programs
they like just at the
right time with their
remote controls, a
leading advertising
executive said.
In an open forum at
the 2008 World
Marketing Conference
at the SMX Convention
Center, Emily Abrera,
regional chair of the
McCann Worldgroup
Asia, said the
Philippines has the
highest commercial
load per hour in Asia.
"We have the highest
commercial load in the
world. Certainly, it's
the highest in Asia,
and I think it's
probably one of the
highest in the world,"
she said.
In an interview with
abs-cbnNEWS.com/New
sbreak, Abrera said
the local advertising-
industry prescribed
limit is 18 minutes of
commercials per hour,
a level that is already
highest in Asia. In
other Asian countries,
the limit is 12 to 14
minutes per hour.
Anti-ads behavior
Abrera said too many
commercials have
forced consumers to
adapt, and they have
developed behavior
that is anti-
advertisement.
"You will note that
people are
continuously watching
several channels
simultaneously. And
people are very good
and have evolved this
wonderful sense of
timing so that they
know that as soon as
commercial come on,
they go to the channel
where they're
watching something
else. So in other
words, they're
tracking several
programs at the same
time. And they come
back, almost as soon
as that last spot is
ending. They're very
good at that already,"
Abrera said.
"When we overload
with commercials, we
are actually teaching
people how to avoid
them. We're giving
them the greatest
reason how to avoid
watching our work.
And that is what
worries me the most,
that we're losing our
audience for our
commercials," she
said.
Regulation needed
Abrera said there is a
need for more
regulation of these
commercials in the
Philippines. The
regulation is supposed
to be done by the
advertising board in
the Philippines and the
broadcasters'
association,
Kapisanan ng mga
Brodkaster ng
Pilipinas (KBP).
"I still think we need
to be regulated,"
Abrera said. But she
lamented that GMA-7
is no longer a member
of KBP, "so we can't
hold them to the
following guidelines."
According to a
content analysis-
study done by De La
Salle University
students discussed
during the open
forum, GMA-7 has a
commercial load of 30
minutes per hour
while ABS-CBN has a
commercial load of "15
to 20 minutes per
hour."
Abrera said marketing
associations in the
Philippines are "trying
to find a balance" that
would allow television
networks to comply
while reducing costs
to advertisers. She
said the balance is
needed because "the
fewer commercials we
have, the highest cost
it will be for a
commercial minute or
30-seconders."
New technology factor
She said the industry
cannot continue with
the same set-up of
overloading
consumers with
commercials. "It's
something that needs
to be addressed. And
we cannot continue
interrupting
programs. Because
that also interrupts
viewing and creates a
sort of a negative
effect after a while."
Abrera said new
technologies such as
mobile phones are
partly to blame for
the commercial
overload.
"I don't think it's just
in the Philippine
setting. I think we're
just inundated with
messages from
everywhere, because
also of new media,
because we carry our
phones all the time.
So we get all sorts of
offers, promotions. If
you look at the
billboards which are
just all over the
place, it's as if
there's nowhere you
can turn where there
isn't space that is
occupied by a branded
message. And this I
think teaches us also
how to tune off," she
told abs-cbnNEWS.com/
Newsbreak.
Creative ads
Abrera urged
advertising and
marketing firms to be
more creative in their
campaigns through
ads that consumers
won't mind being
interrupted with.
"We're going to have
to perform the job of
entertaining, uplifting
with a very subtle
sell," she said. "The
message has got to
be worth their time,
worth their
interruption."
Abrera said young
people know so much
about producing
videos these days
that it makes the job
of advertisers more
difficult.
"They know so much
about production that
you're going to have
to show them
something so
interesting that
they're going to want
to see it over and
over again," she said.
Abrera said another
challenge is how to
produce
advertisements for
computers or laptops,
Ipods, and mobile
phones, which
consumers don't want
interrupted with
commercials.
"The other thing we
have to realize is,
these new media-
computer, the mobile
phone, iPod-these are
very personal,
extremely
personal.They're
extensions of the
self, and so there's a
higher wall there that
I think we have to
scale, to enter," she
said.
This is a big change
from the time when
all advertisers had to
do was "just buy and
pay for the space and
you can intrude on
anyone at any given
time." "Today, they
have to give us
permission to deliver
our message," Abrera
said.

Subscribe to us now! Just go to "Subscribers' Area"