A new booking scheme by the Philippines' leading broadcaster has
sparked fears that plans could be abused by larger media independents or
companies with the resources to corner prime time slots.
Launched in mid-October, the ABS-CBN pre-season booking plan requires
advertisers and agencies to book space on a "non-cancellable" basis for
2001 before the end of this year.
The station is planning a 20 per cent rate hike next year, but will
grant early bookers a 10 per cent discount.
However, agencies believe the pre-season buying plan will only benefit
the growing pool of media independents, which have the resources to book
early amid the troubled economic climate.
"My concern is that the media independents might reserve a good portion
of the inventory to the deteriment of medium and small-sized agencies,"
said Campaigns & Grey vice-president for media, Rina Bartolome.
"The independents can always take the risk, reserve space and then pick
up clients as they go along," she added.
Several other medium-sized agencies echoed Ms Bartolome's comments.
"Besides the media independents, you could even get financial companies
buying up all the slots and then reselling the space at their asking
price in the future," said the media director of a medium-sized
agency.
A newly-established media independent, however, insisted that the scheme
was clear in discouraging brokering by agencies.
She said the station had clearly-defined terms for both agencies and
advertisers entering into its pre-season buying arrangement.
In both instances, the media space purchased will be limited to the
companies' historical volume with ABS-CBN plus a provision for a 2001
increase.
ABS-CBN also requires signatories of the contract to be officers defined
by their charter to enter into a purchase agreement with the
station.
Agencies are not required to identify advertisers who will be using the
spot, but they can resell the pre-booked spots at the regular season
rate to their clients.
Likewise, advertisers are not required to identify brands which will be
using the pre-booked spots, but they cannot resell the space to other
advertisers.
Said the media agency chief: "These are clear rules against
brokering."
Not all agencies were convinced: "ABS-CBN said it is not allowing
brokering, but there is nothing to stop agencies from getting creative
in how they dispose of the spots they pre-booked," said the media
director of the medium-sized agency.
It is understood that the station plans to pre-sell only 60 per cent of
total inventory, leaving the remaining 40 per cent for walk-in
advertisers.
Agencies were also concerned that the station's 20 per cent rate hike
would erode affordability levels for advertisers already suffering from
a weakened economy and the peso's continued depreciation, as the
corruption scandal continues to engulf President Joseph Estrada's
administration.
The Philippines' second-placed station, GMA, is looking at a 15 per cent
hike for 2001.
ABS-CBN justified the hike, saying it had expanded coverage to six
provincial areas, which will give it a three per cent increase in
reach.
The station is estimated to have 43 per cent share of audience, while
GMA is a distant second with a 24 per cent share.
ABS-CBN announced the rate increase for 2001 as part of a package of
initiatives to better manage its inventory.
The station also plans to "dechain" programming from February 2001,
allowing agencies and advertisers the flexibility of buying space at a
national, cluster (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three main islands)
and on a per-city basis.
