Viacom raises the stakes in TV ad battle

Media & Marketing: For a country with a relatively modest population of 3.9 million, we certainly have many television stations. By the end of the year, as many as 17 channels may be chasing advertising revenue in the Irish market. According to most industry estimates, there will be about 15 by the summer.

This week Viacom announced plans to introduce Paramount Comedy into the Irish advertising market from early May.

It already offers Irish advertisers space on MTV and Nickelodeon and it may introduce more services in the years ahead.

It has another 15 channels in its stable.

According to industry sources, Viacom, since entering the Irish TV market back last February with MTV and Nickelodeon, has taken more than €4 million in revenue out of the Irish advertising market.

With David Harvey's City Channel due to enter the fray in the months ahead and advertising veteran Mr Pat Donnelly promising to launch another service, the space is beginning to look a little congested. There are so many TV advertising salespeople operating from offices in Dublin, that some agencies complain in private about being "pestered".

However, most are glad to have such an intense level of competition because, in theory, it should drive down prices.

While RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 2, TV3, TG4, Sky News Ireland and Setanta Sport provide significant Irish programming, the others are content to dispense with such programming and instead offer Irish advertisers space via an "opt out".

An opt out is where a TV company splits its signal and replaces its normal mainstream programming or advertising with local variations.

While TV3, in particular, complains about the invasion of the "opt out" brigade, there is very little that can de done. Irish people appear to like a lot of the overseas channels and subscription numbers to Sky Digital, NTL Digital and Chorus Digital indicate this trend will continue.

But one can have some sympathy with the sheer level of competition now facing stations such as TV3 and RTÉ from the overseas operators. However, as long as they produce the big ratings, RTÉ and TV3 will get the lion's share of the business.

But their worry - often voiced in private - is that some of the new arrivals may pinch market share around the fringes, particularly at the younger end of the market.

The following channels are currently selling airtime in the Irish market: RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, TV3, TG4, Setanta, UTV, E4, Channel 4, Sky News, Sky One, Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, MTV, Nickelodeon and now Paramount Comedy.

Mr Andy Farwell, who heads the Viacom operation in the Republic, said there was a very strong response from advertisers to all three channels (MTV, Nickelodeon and from May, Paramount).

Asked if any of the three channels consider carrying Irish content he said: "Watch this space".

He said he hoped Paramount Comedy, which has rights to hit shows like Frasier, Sex and the City and Becker, would appeal to a 25 to 44-year-old age group with a slight male bias. He said agreements were in place for the channel to be carried on NTL and Chorus analogue platforms, meaning it could reach 800,000 homes.

It is already available on various digital platforms. The launch of Paramount will be backed up by a significant marketing investment, he said.

The nature of this investment is not known, but speculation is that Viacom television will link up with its outdoor advertising subsidiary to promote the new offering.

Infuriating jingles: While the growth of British TV stations in Ireland is fast becoming a phenomenon, one form of advertising carried on many of these channels might hinder their further growth in Ireland.

Anyone who has subscribed to Sky, NTL or Chorus Digital will be familiar with the ringtone ads which seem to take up a huge proportion of advertising time on channels like VH1.

The most common ad consists of an animated amphibian character known as Crazy Frog who makes a maddening "ding ding ding" sound while revving up his imaginary motorcycle.

Thankfully, British viewers have also found these vacuous adverts mystifying and intrusive. About 60 complaints were recently made to the British Advertising Standards Authority about the "Crazy Frog".

Interestingly, some of the complainants simply said the advert was annoying and on television too often.

Others complained that the amphibian's genitalia were "inappropriate" for an animated character that appealed to children. Unfortunately for all of us, the authority said just because an ad was annoying and aired regularly was not sufficient grounds to uphold a complaint.

This is good news for the ringtone company, Jamster, which, according to British media reports, has made £10 million (€14.5 million) from the Crazy Frog campaign.

Imagine if the Irish Advertising Standards Authority was to clamp down on ads which aired too often and which included infuriating jingles.

Which campaigns would have to come to an end? Anyone for Harvey Norman?

Alternatives courses: The marketing company Alternatives, led by Ms Sandra Lawler and Ms Aldagh McDonogh, have signed an agreement with the UK's influential body, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The result of the partnership is a new entity called CIM @ Alternatives which will be offering over 100 marketing courses to Irish companies.

The courses will be provided in the normal fashion, or if requested, held in companies themselves.

While some marketing professionals believe they have all the education they need, the recent Government-sponsored Enterprise Strategy report identified "better sales and marketing education" as one of the ways in which firms could gain a competitive advantage internationally.