Hungary’s two national commercial TV channels have agreed to implement changes to their demand-based practice of pricing slots for commercials in response to an ongoing campaign by media agencies to increase transparency.
According to advertising portal Kreatív Online, the price of commercials on RTL Klub and TV2 depends on how many advertisers wish to run a commercial at a given time – resulting in prices that fluctuate according to demand. This made it difficult for media agencies to predict prices that their clients would be expected to pay as channels. In response, the channels have now agreed to inform media agencies of expected demand at given times in the month or day rather than sending monthly averages of demand. “If demand is too high on the channels at the desired period, realization of campaigns can be put at risk,” explained Zsuzsa Benke of Mediaedge:cia.
As a result of recent negotiations, TV2 agreed to send weekly forecasts to agencies starting September 2008, while RTL Klub will follow suite from January 2009.