The FINANCIAL — The total profit of Georgian TV companies dropped by GEL 40,337.01 during the first half of 2013, compared with the same period of last year. TV company Rustavi 2 attracts the largest share of advertisers.
TV’s profit amounted to GEL 22,184,843.03 in the first half of 2013, down from GEL 22,225,180.04 in the same period of 2012. This data was provided by the Georgian National Communication Commission (GNCC). The annual income of the 46 TV companies reached GEL 55,589,893.55 in 2012.
With USD 4,544,035 the company Mobitel LLC, operating under telecommunication brand name Beeline, leads the list of the top ten companies with the largest ad expenditures on TV companies during the first half of 2013.
The expenditures of Kraft Foods (Jacobs, Barni etc), Magti GSM, Procter & Gamble also exceeded USD 4 million. Natakhtari Brewery, which spent USD 3,124,286 on TV commercials in the first half of 2013, is the top fifth company in the list of top advertisers. It is followed by Bank of Georgia, with USD 2,720,113; Mars – USD 2,292,114; Geocell – USD 2,022,378; Samsung – USD 1,954,562; and Henkel – USD 1,746,925.
These figures were exclusively provided to The FINANCIAL by TV MR GE, Nielsen Television Audience Measurement’s official licensee. The figures are counted according to official price lists and do not consider any discounts between TV companies and advertisers.
According to GNCC, TV company Rustavi 2 is the leader of the top destinations for advertisers. Imedi TV, which since the 2012 parliamentary elections has been returned to its previous owners, Badri Patarkatsishvili’s family, saw a drop in profit of more than 2 million in the first half of 2013, compared with the same period of 2012. The ad profit of Rustavi 2 increased by more than 2 million during the same period.
GEL 1,207,136.36 was the total profit of TV company Ninth Channel from the second quarter of 2012 including the second quarter of 2013. Ninth Channel was owned by PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who closed it down in August of the current year stating that the company cost him a million per month.
Salome Ugniadze, Director of advertising agency Pro Media, affiliated with MediaCom, said that according to today’s data, total expenditure of businesses on ads has increased by 19% in comparison with last year.
“Therefore companies have not decreased activity. We expect to see a growth of advertisers by 10-15% in 2014,” said Ugniadze.
Pro Media was established in 2011.
Contrary to Ugniadze, Transparency International evaluated the Georgian ad market as more competitive after the government change of October 2012, however, it predicted that overall companies will reduce their advertising budgets.
The list of the top ten advertisers during the first six months of 2012 included Kraft (USD 4,964,547); Magti GSM (USD 3,751,274); Procter & Gamble (USD 3,139,800); Mobitel (USD 2,771,234); Natakhtari Brewery (USD 2,526,502); Geocell (USD 2,295,044); Silknet (USD 1,698,143); Mars (USD 1,607,414); TBC Bank (USD 1,563,515); and Bank of Georgia (USD 1,537,413).
According to the analysis by Transparency International Georgia, politics no longer plays a significant role in the allocation of advertising budgets. “Today it would appear that companies have abandoned the practice of self-censorship when allocating marketing budgets, as had previously been the case, and now decide freely about their spending,” the report said.
“In the regions, local newspapers report that businesses and individuals are no longer afraid of being associated with independent media outlets. As a result, the advertising market and thus the media market have become significantly more competitive.”
“Several advertising companies that were previously controlled by former Defence Minister Davit Kezerashivli (through offshore shell companies) have been acquired by the Georgian-Russian businessman David Iakobashvili, a business partner of Kezerashivli in several energy companies since 2011,” TI Georgia reports.
Discussion about this post