Spain’s main public television station TVE1 has experienced a bump in its ratings since it stopped airing advertisements on January 1, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The station obtained an audience share of 19.5 percent during the first 10 days of the year compared to 16.6 percent during the entire month of December, according to an internal study cited by the online edition of El Pais.
The ratings rise has been greatest when it comes to films. The 2004 movie National Treasure starring Nicolas Cage obtained a market share of 30.5 percent when it aired on Sunday night, an increase of 8.5 percentage points over the average for the same time slot in December.
Last year the European Commission warned that Spain faces possible court action for failing to ensure that its television stations comply with a European Union-wide limit of 12 minutes of adverts per hour. Spain’s main association of advertisers, meanwhile, has warned that “saturation advertising” on television was hurting the effectiveness of their messages and turning off viewers.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s socialist government axed all commercial advertising on Spain’s two public channels, TVE1 and TVE2, as of 1 January. The two stations had been broadcasting 10 minutes of adverts per hour.
(Source: AFP)
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 19:58
I feel sure there is a message here for ITV in the UK. This is TV manufactured specifically to sell advertising, with overall poor quality (there are happily a few exceptions!) and designed for a lowest common denominator intellect. No wonder ITV has a revenue problem, yet they persist in believing that it is the fault of the BBC, when once upon a time they themselves regarded ITV as a \