Digital | 4:57 January 20, 2010 | Pete Dodd | Print this story

Traditional TV still strong, Deloitte tells advertisers

Traditional broadcasting will prevail for “years to come” while the popularity of on-demand services has been overestimated, according to a new report from financial consultant Deloitte.

Misinterpretation of online and on-demand viewing statistics has built up an unfair picture of the state of viewing, Deloitte said, and traditional television retains significant advantages as an advertising medium with most consumers of content remaining “happily beholden to the schedule”.

The report said that ratings and measurements of online viewing were not comparable to traditional television, which was measured by the number of viewers as opposed to such things as page impressions, page views, unique users and requests. “Often little distinction is made between a clip and a full programme, even though commercial significance for each may vary considerably,” the report stated.

Advertisers should carefully analyse the various statistics regarding media consumption, Deloitte advised. “Advertisers should not accept the common perception that television audiences are in long term decline. In several mature markets, as well as most developing ones, broadcast television viewing is more likely to rise than decline,” the report said.

Elsewhere, ITV has been given the go ahead to launch a new time-shifted channel and a high definition channel, but has expressed anger with the Competition Commission over its decision to agree only small changes to the system of contract rights renewal (CRR), which govern how advertising is sold.

Competition Commission Deputy Chairman Diana Guy said there was a strong case for widening the definition of ITV1 in the CRR undertakings to include both ITV+1 and ITV1 HD and this had been largely supported by ITV and other parties.

“We believe that this change will go a considerable way towards reducing the unintended costs to ITV of the current system,” she added. But ITV said in a statement, “CRR distorts the market and the fundamental relationship between advertisers and free-to-air broadcasters.”