CCTV auction signals end to adspend fears of clients in mainland

The annual benchmark CCTV auction, held on November 8 in Beijing, showed an increase over last year's turnover of 12 per cent - a stark contrast to 1999's drop of 34 per cent. However, the results were greeted with mixed feelings, with only a few foreign brands making their way to the auction, which sells off the primetime slots for the national news and weather report on CCTV for the year. The auction brought in RMB 2.15 billion for 2001 slots, up from RMB 1.92 billion in 1999. The overall situation was better than last year according to some media executives, while Ms Grace Wen, buying director with Zenith Media Beijing pointed out that "two new timeslots were auctioned this year and accounted for much of the increase." While the CCTV auction is an important benchmark for the advertising industry, much has changed since its initial beginnings in 1994, making the event more transparent amid growing competition and an increasingly sophisticated market. While until 1996 the auction was held as a closed bid, a lack of other alternatives and effective media measurement tools made bidders outperform one another. Following widespread criticism, the auction was changed to a partially open bid in 1997, while the winner of the "Auction King" title, going to the biggest spender, was also scrapped a year later. Industry experts agree that the open bid has substantially brought down the price of advertising slots. "But more clients are looking at the cost efficiency of advertising slots and with the auction this is not easy to calculate," said Ms Wen. However, even though there are more than 1,000 terrestrial, cable and provincial satellite channels, nothing challenges the national coverage of CCTV, especially for brands with national distribution. "It depends on what the advertiser is looking for. The big budget time slots are still worthwhile for some local brands which have national distribution," said Mr Gary Sin, Universal McCann Beijing general manager. "People living in remote areas often only have access to low quality programming from local TV stations and CCTV is widely watched. Also, it is matter of image. The auction gives a brand a big name and credibility." Foreign brands, including Colgate, Philips and Hitachi, have found their way onto the slots. "Foreign goods often have their distribution restricted to key cities, so there is no need to pay for national coverage," said Mr Charley Kan, media director of The Media Edge. "Also, the five-second time slots do not fit in with the marketing strategy of international players. They prefer to send out a message for a product, while locals like the five-second brand announcement." This year's auction saw seven timeslots (228 blocks) auctioned off. According to Zenith Media, the 3rd Harbin Pharmaceutical Factory was the top bidder, spending RMB 112.57 million; the Tai Ji Group for the weight loss product Qu Mei came in second with RMB 97.63 million; and Bubugao Group for home appliances third with RMB 95.24 million. While TVCs for electronic goods have cluttered the slots over the last two years, and alcohol limited to a few categories, this time medical products were the among the top winners. Source: CMM Intelligence.

Sign In

Trouble signing in?

Reset Password: Click here

Contact Customer Support at

Customerservice@campaignasia.com