Toy Show will be €300,000 moneyspinner for RTE

ADVERTISING & MARKETING: With an advertising take of €300,000, this year's Toy Show will be the biggest Late Late Show moneyspinner for RTÉ to date. Advertisers will have to pay €14,000 per 30-second slot for the programme which attracts a viewership of close to one million.

The price is twice what would normally be paid by advertisers for a similar prime-time slot.

Opponents of alcohol advertising looking for ammunition for their cause would be wise to tune in on November 29th because this prime-time, high-earner weekend programme will be broadcast without any alcohol advertisements in the breaks. Usually Friday night television is prime advertising time for drinks companies.

While the Late Late Show is on after any self-imposed watershed restricting alcohol advertising, the thinking is that as so many of its viewers will be young children, such advertising should not be permitted.

The opposite of this also holds true. Daytime events, particularly sports events, frequently have drinks companies advertising in the breaks because the station believes the audience is overwhelmingly adult.

Since January 2001, RTÉ has followed UK broadcasters in selling its advertising on a deal-based system whereby companies pay for a certain number of viewers and the station devises a package of programmes that will deliver such an audience.

The Toy Show and such high advertiser magnets as the World Cup are outside such arrangements and a premium one-off fee is charged for individual slots.

The station believes that as the programme attracts the most viewers in the big-spending decision-making "housewives with children" category, the premium is justified and this year as in others it is heavily subscribed. The show typically attracts a TVR (the industry viewership measurement system) of 33 compared with Eastenders which might expect to attract a TVR of 13.

The €14,000 per 30-second slot is not the most expensive airtime the station has ever sold. During the World Cup slots went for €20,000.

The Toy Show is being brought forward by a week this year as there was a perception that if it was broadcast at a later date, many Christmas toy decisions would already have been made.

The 02 media account worth €5 million has been awarded to MediaWorks and Irish International BBDO.

The agencies pitched jointly for the account, signalling a further development in the likely merger of the media side of Irish International and MediaWorks. Both are part of the global Omnicom network and their close association on this pitch reflects Omnicom's activities in other markets. The pitch also involved Initiative and MediaVest.

From July 2003 there will be an Irish opt-out on Sky Sports. It is already available on Sky One and Sky News and it means that Irish advertisers can buy time on the stations for broadcast in Ireland only. Advertisers, who for example wanted to advertise during the breaks on Sky's transmission of Ireland versus Greece last night, had to do so through the UK and pay a rate that was calculated on a UK audience rate.

The whole issue has been a sore point among Irish advertisers who have baulked at paying a much higher rate to reach the Irish fans.

bharrison@irish-times.ie