Thursday-Friday, June 13-14, 2002 (2 full days)
Organised by AV Eureka, EGTA and UNESCO
On the occasion of the second edition of MITIL, AV Eureka, EGTA and UNESCO will organise a seminar on programming and the financial resources of local and independent broadcasters.
Over a 2-days’ period, two workshops (4 sessions), one dedicated to the financial resources of local and independent broadcasters, the other to programming, will be held in parallel with common workshops.
This workshop, organised with the expert skills of EGTA (European Group of Television Advertising), will tackle the topic of technology and its impact on advertising. In a context of signal multiplication (satellite, digital-terrestrial, internet…), experts will analyse the technical elements required for the broadcasting of regional advertising. The various audience measurement systems and their impact on local and regional campaigns will, by way of case studies, allow participants to prepare the ground for an advertising campaign adopted to their own particular situation.
These tools will make it possible to go more deeply into the various strategies required to maximise the impact of local and regional advertising campaigns, in particular, through the alliances between the daily press and television channels and working on the advertising products proposed to advertisers with a regional scope.
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The programme people will work on different phases of preparing a programme schedule, the process of decision-making at local level, the legal and financial constraints which these channels have to face.
Experts will analyse the life of several programmes, from the very beginning of their creation to when they are broadcast; they will then look at the ways in which these programmes are distributed, the cost of the programmes in relation to the kind of programme and channels, and the programme acquisition policy which they adopt in line with their editorial strategy.
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The Workshops will afford the possibility of a dialogue between the programme people and the advertising people, a dialogue which is not as straightforward as it may seem, as it is based on principles which often tend to be contradictory.
What compromise has to be reached in order to optimise advertising revenue and viewer satisfaction ? Whilst the sales people attempt to communicate their needs in relation to the imperatives of the market, the programme people will, for their part, put forward cultural arguments and what they consider are the expectations of TV audiences.
The placing of advertising breaks in a programme schedule, the kinds of TV programme which can be sponsored, programme people, anxious about the consistency of their programme schedules, how do they react to the commercial stakes ? – just a few of the issues which apply to the two main television services but which require that a consensus of opinion be reached in order to preserve the identity and editorial policy of the television channel.
These exchanges contribute towards the re-defining of new advertising formats, so avoiding the traditional advertising breaks; « split screens », namely, continuous advertising windows on the screen which, although not yet authorised, will, according to some, be less damaging to programme consistency.
Still many a debate lies ahead !
The EGTA (European Group of Television Advertising) is a trade association based in Brussels. It gathers 36 sales houses and/or commercial departments which, on behalf of over 80 television channels spread across 25 European countries (+ Korea), collect more than 15 billion Euro, thus representing 60% of all TV advertising investment in Europe. Through the years (we celebrated our 25th anniversary in 1999), the EGTA has clearly become the reference centre for advertising in Europe.
In short, our aim is basically to defend our members' interests in all possible ways:
-Monitoring, analysing and advising on public policy and legislation that affect Commercial Communications and the Information Society
-Lobbying of European institutions against unjustified restrictions
-Acting as a spearhead in all sectors which may directly or indirectly influence the world of television advertising
-Meeting with various industries or groups of advertisers (directly or indirectly threatened by an excessive legislation or unaware of all the advertising possibilities offered by television (in conjunction with other media)
We are also extremely anxious to keep our members informed of all interesting evolutions happening both on the European market and around the world. Our activities therefore comprise:
-The dissemination of information likely to help our members stay one step ahead of the market, best sell their channel's advertising space and thereby optimise their revenue.
-Contacts with equipment manufacturers, software and hardware developers or even with "think tank" organisation or similar professional associations. Subjects like interactivity, convergence, enhanced contents, change in viewership habits,... are of course at the very heart of our reflection.
-Working parties (Sports and Advertising, Marketing and Sales Methods, Audience Measurement, European Affairs, Interactivity and Advertising).
-"Thematic days" on highly specialised topics
-Training programmes (mainly for new members) and modules in the framework of a Summer University Study trips
-The creation of databases (European Guide to TV sponsorship, General Interest Advertising, Technical and Marketing factors with an influence on the c/000,…)