The final quarter of this year and most of next year look promising for TV3 and RTÉ in terms of advertising revenue, writes Emmet Oliver.
Both companies traditionally have their revenues boosted in the final quarter as Christmas campaigns start airing and companies book last-minute airtime to bolster certain product lines.
TV3 will be hoping for strong advertiser reaction to early figures from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which also airs on UTV at 9 p.m.
According to AC Nielsen figures, 307,000 individuals tuned into the programme on TV3 last Sunday for instance, although it has reached as high as 340,000 on subsequent evenings. These figures are based on the average quarter-hour trends.
Among the celebrities taking part are UK journalist Janet Street Porter, model Sophia Anderton and the former royal butler Paul Burrell.
The show runs until December 6th and this is the first year Irish viewers have been able to vote.
One of TV3's major shareholders, CanWest, recently announced a record €7 million profit from its 45 per cent share in the station. CanWest president and chief executive Leonard Asper described it as TV3's best performance yet.
Over at RTÉ, things are also looking bright financially. The station expects to report a significant surplus for 2004 and there is even talk of RTÉ having reserves on its balance sheet again.
According to figures released last week by the Department of Finance, licence fee income is forecast to grow once more in 2005 from €167 million to €178 million.
Most observers put this down to the high levels of new house building.
This week, Dublin agency Saor Communications claimed RTÉ's ad rates were up about 11 per cent compared to this period last year.
The agency said the cost of airtime on children's television had increased the most.
Meanwhile, the RTÉ Guide has appointed McCann Erickson to handle its creative advertising account.
The magazine, which has been under circulation pressure recently, has taken a subtle change of direction in recent months and appointed a new editor.
Cawley Nea award
Dublin-based ad agency Cawley Nea has won the grand prix award in the advertising effectiveness awards for 2004.
Its Club Energise campaign won the highly coveted top prize, while the agency also won awards for its Barnardos and Miwadi campaigns.
The awards are organised by the IAPI (the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland).
There was a strong presence of public-awareness type campaigns in this year's awards, with entries for penalty points, blood transfusion, anti-smoking and a waste campaign.
Orlaith Blaney, managing director of McCann Erickson, said it was about time creative work was given a proper focus.
"In my view, there are just too many average adverts out there right now and we need to get much more focused as an industry on creative work. We also need both IAPI and the Advertising Association of Ireland to drive a stronger culture of advertising performance measurement," she said.
Sponsor for St Pats
Despite controversy at Shamrock Rovers in recent weeks, companies are still prepared to back League of Ireland clubs, at least when it comes to sponsorship.
Smart Telecom has signed up to sponsor St Patrick's Athletic for three years, in a deal believed to be worth about €250,000.
The deal involves a variety of activity, including the placement of the Smart Telecom logo on the front of the team jerseys and on the signage surrounding the pitch at Richmond Park in Inchicore. Smart Telecom branding will also appear on official club merchandise.
Rhona Bradshaw, marketing co-ordinator of Smart Telecom, said the company was taking over the club sponsorship from Autoglass. "We look forward to cultivating a similar successful association with the club in the years to come."
New magazine
A new leisure entertainment magazine is to be launched nationally at the end of this month called Play.
The magazine will be targeted at 18- to 30-year-olds with an interest in cinema, DVDs and computer games.
This year has seen a significant amount of activity in the magazine sector, with Magill and In Dublin returning to the streets and Vincent Browne's Village entering its second month of publication.
A new woman's title, Prudence, was also launched in recent weeks.
Earlier this year, there was a lot of despondency about the sector in some quarters, following the closure of Mike Hogan's various magazines. But the number of new titles suggests this despondency may have been misplaced.
Ad sector surges
Good news for these magazine titles may be the latest statistics on advertising spending. This week AFA O'Meara reports the good news that "the Celtic tiger is still very much alive and roaring in ad land".
Based on IAPI figures, total media expenditure for the period January to October this year was € 979 million, an increase of some 17 per cent over the same period in 2003.
Newspapers and television seem to have done particularly well with year-on-year increases of 19 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
"With the busy Christmas spending period yet to take off, it looks as though the total media spend for 2004 will be in the region of € 1,400 million as against € 1,157 million spend for 2003,"reports the agency.
