The FINANCIAL — Georgian TV audiences decreased by over 5% during January-November 2014, in comparison with the prior-year period. Meanwhile TV ads sales have brought in 31% increased income for TV companies this year. TV company Rustavi 2 attracts the largest share of advertisers (37%), according to TV MR GE, Nielsen Television Audience Measurement.
TV’s profit amounted to USD 272,139,181 during the first eleven months of 2014, up from USD 192,856,590 from the same period of 2013. The figures are counted according to official price lists and do not take into consideration any discounts and revenues from sponsorship between TV companies and advertisers.
The data has been provided to The FINANCIAL by TV MR GE, Nielsen Television Audience Measurement’s official licensee.
Total daily TV viewing was 248,863 in 2014, down from 261,522 from a year earlier. The research areas cover cities with populations of more than 45,000. Sunday is the most active day for TV viewers. Out of all the months, citizens spend most of their time watching TV in January, in contrast to August, which is the least active period for TV watching. TV viewing increases by 14-16% in January and drops by 20% in August, in comparison with the average viewing.
With USD 23,906,921, Mondelez (Barni, Alpen Gold, Jacobs and other products) leads the list of the top ten companies with the largest ad expenditures on TV companies during 2014. The amounts of the top ten expenditures exceeded USD 4 million.
Mondelez is followed by Procter & Gamble, which spends USD 14,094,798; Geocell – USD 13,072,301; Mobitel – USD 8,063,999; Ludsakharshi Natakhtari – USD 7,871,907; Techno Boom – USD 6,321,261; Samsung – USD 5,443,246; Bank of Georgia – USD 5,010,751; Kartuli Ludis Kompania Zedazeni – USD 4,941,916; and Coca-Cola – USD 4,630,909.
Out of the top ten advertisers of the current year, Mondelez, Techno Boom, Samsung and Coca-Cola were the ones that did not enter into the list of the top spenders. Mobitel was the only company from the list that spent USD 1.4 million less this year than in the previous one. The largest growth has been made by Geocell which increased its budget for TV commercials by almost USD 7 million. Procter & Gambel spent USD 3.8 million more and Samsung increased theirs by USD 1.2 million. The smallest increase of a TV ad budget was made by Ludsakharshi Natakhtari, with a y-o-y difference worth USD 3284, 534.
In terms of the revenues of broadcasters from ads sales, two TV stations currently account for 66% of all revenues in the broadcasting sector. In 2014, the revenue of Rustavi 2 from TV ads sales is worth USD 100,404,862 (37% of all broadcasters’ revenue), while Imedi TV income amounted to USD 79,801,936 (29% of all revenue). They are followed by Maestro TV, with USD 30,611,565, New Channel/Comedy – USD 25,235,240, and GDS – USD 14,453,271.
Besides the traditional dominance of the two leading companies, Rustavi 2 and Imedi, the data of the current year has shown that advertisers express more of an interest in other TV companies, ones with less of a market share. TV3, which attracted ads worth just USD 81,171 in 2013, this year gained USD 3,910,689. Significant growth of TV ads sales has been shown at Tabula TV, which attracted USD 2,745,886 this year, up from USD 35,009 in 2013. Maestro 24/TV 11 has seen over USD 8 million worth of growth from ads sales during the current year. The company attracted USD 8,249,632 in 2014, up from USD 372,644 from a year earlier. With USD 1,146,499 in 2014, Kavkasya was the only TV channel that saw a decrease from TV ads sales this year. The figure of the previous year was USD 2,539,903.
According to 2014 report of Transparency International, after the political changes in Georgia in October 2012, political control over the media has changed for the better. “The ownership of Georgian media outlets is now largely transparent – a few smaller exceptions remain, where shareholders continue to hide their involvement behind offshore shell companies.”
While the owners of several media outlets have or used to have some links with either the ruling Georgian Dream coalition or the opposition United National Movement, no major outlet that covers news and current affairs appears to be owned, controlled or bankrolled by current political actors.
Both in the areas of ownership transparency and political control over the media, much has changed for the better, if comparing the current situation with 2010, when some of the country’s most influential media outlets were closely linked with the Government or other political groups and controlled through opaque shell entities.
However, there are several large businessmen who own media outlets in Georgia. Levan Karamanishvili, one of the owners of Rustavi 2, owns shares in mobile operator Beeline through offshore entities. He is also linked to the ownership of internet provider Caucasus Online, according to Transparency International. During the last seven years, Rustavi 2 was considered part of the National Movement due to its political support for the political majority and unclear financing.
The Patarkatsishvili family, which owns Imedi TV, holds several assets in Georgia. The list includes mobile operator Magticom, Borjomi mineral water and Mtatsminda amusement park.
Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose son Bera owns entertainment station GDS, controls a number of offshore companies through his relatives. Another channel owned by the billionaire – TV9, was shut down soon after the change of government. However, experts say that TV9’s license was not taken away.
Kakha Okruashvili, who recently got the broadcasting license of his TV company Mze back, is the founder of Omega Group. Omega Group includes cigarette production and distribution companies as well as a BMW dealership.
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