05. 11. 2008

206 MILLION EUROS OF ADVERTISING REVENUE

The total of 113 million euros is spent for advertising on TV stations, 54 million euros for advertising in print media, while the rest is shared between billboards, radio and the Internet

Belgrade, November 5, 2008 (Biznis) – 206 million euros will be spent for advertising in the media in 2008, with the most of this money going to TV stations – exactly 113 million euros, says for the Business Darko Brocic, director of the agency "AGB Nielsen Media Research".

Information collected by the agency shows that most of the money has been spent on television advertising – 113 million euros. At the same time, 54 million euros were spent on print media advertising, 26 million on billboards and posters, and only nine million euros on radio advertising. Also, four million euros will be used for advertising in cinemas and on the Internet.

Increase in TV advertising

95 million euros were used for media advertising in Serbia in 2005, with 20 million euros more in 2006. In 2007 there was a huge increase to 175 million euros. It is estimated that the media market in Serbia will be worth 206 million euros.

- Companies "Procter and Gamble", "Coca-Cola", mobile provider "Vip", "Heinkel", and another mobile operator, "Telenor", are the five biggest advertisers in Serbia, says Brocic.

TV Pink is the TV station with the largest number of advertisements, while RTS takes the second place. Brocic points out that it is presumed that RTS is rated behind Pink with regard to number of advertisements, which he explains by the difference between advertising in commercial TV stations and the public service television.

- Commercial televisions have the right to 12 minutes of advertisements within an hour, while RTS, as a public service broadcaster, has a half of this time on its disposal. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of advertisements are broadcast on commercial TV stations, because of the mentioned limitation as well as because a national public service broadcaster has a slightly different role. These two TV stations are followed by "B92", "TV Fox" and others, says Brocic.

Brocic explains that Serbia is very similar to other countries in the region in the segment of advertising, and that it is not true, as was reported in the media, that five times more money is spent on advertising in Croatia than in Serbia.

- Looking at the situation in the region, Serbia is very similar to other countries. It is especially true if we compare Serbia and Croatia, which are two strongest markets in the region, apart from the Slovenian market, which belongs to the European Union and where print media have an advantage. Some countries have bigger budgets for print media instead of television, like Germany, for example. In less developed countries, television is dominant and it takes around 80 percent of the total advertising budget. As markets develop and the amount of money increases, other media increase too, especially the print media, gradually lessening the share of television. But it is definitely not true that our neighbors spend five times more money on marketing, says Brocic.

Internet lags behind

It is quite logical that advertising budgets depend on total political and economical situation in a country, he adds, because in stable markets, which are developing, more investments are made, while in politically unstable markets, which stagnate, advertising budgets are much smaller.

- It is estimated that in the following years, less than 10 million euros will be spent on Internet advertising because the Internet in Serbia is in its infancy. Only 40 percent of the population has a contact with the Internet, and just around 10 percent has broadband Internet, where it only makes sense to advertise. It is true that Internet use increases each year, but advertising will be relatively modest until it develops further, says Darko Brocic, director of the agency "AGB Nielsen Media Research".