Spain’s public TV ratings rise after ads dropped: data

Spain’s two public television stations, which stopped airing advertisements on 1 January, were the only free channels to enjoy a boost in ratings last month, industry data shows.TVE1, the public broadcaster’s main station, had a 18.6 percent market share in January, a rise of two percentage points over the previous month, according to figures from the Barlovento consultancy. The ratings for its sister station, La2, rose to 3.6 from 3.5 percent.

The gains came at the expense of Spain’s commercial broadcasters which all posted falls in their ratings. Telecinco, controlled by Italy’s Mediaset, had a 14.8 percent market share in January, down 0.3 percentage points from December, while listed rival Antena 3 stood at 13.7 percent, a decline of 0.9 points over the previous month. Spanish media giant Prisa’s channel Cuatro was the third most watched commercial station with an audience share of 7.3 percent while La Sexta was in last place with 6.1 percent.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s socialist government axed all commercial advertising on the two public channels on 1 January in what was seen as a bid to help private broadcasters, which are struggling with falling advertising revenues.

Last month Telecinco and Cuatro announced they had agreed to merge but keep their channels separate. The merger will give them stronger bargaining power to negotiate with advertisers at a time when Spain’s media is being hammered by the country’s worst recession for more than five decades. Spain’s main association of advertisers has said that “saturation advertising” on TV was turning off viewers while Brussels has warned that Spain faces possible court action for failing to ensure that its television stations comply with a EU-wide limit of 12 minutes of adverts per hour.

(Source: AFP)