TVNZ ad rates fall to single figures

It's getting cheaper to advertise during the news on TV One.

TVNZ this week released its fourth-quarter rate card to advertisers, but although the average cost of advertising on its channels increased 7 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, there were none of the screams that accompanied the 13 per cent jump in the third-quarter.

"There has been a rebalancing of the rate card to single-digit figures, which is considerably more palatable," said FCB media director Anna Chitty.

"The news is that they've dropped the [cost of advertising on the] news by 16 per cent on average in the fourth quarter over the third quarter - an absolute reflection of the overzealous pricing of some of the core properties in the third quarter, which saw as a result unhappy agencies and advertisers alike."

The cost of advertising during the news would still be 10 per cent higher in the fourth quarter this year compared with the same period in 2004.

Chitty said TVNZ had also reined in the cost of advertising on the news in the third quarter, cutting rate-card prices up to 15 per cent yesterday.

TVNZ public affairs manager Megan Richards said no single peak-time slot was up more than 13 per cent in the fourth quarter, and there had been some off-peak reductions of more than 40 per cent year-on-year.

The top peak-time increase was for advertising during Desperate Housewives - the hit show that debuted this week with a 27 per cent share of the target audience of 18- to 39-year-olds, who incorporate most household shoppers.

Mediacom strategist Michael Carney said the programming content for the fourth quarter was "decidedly ordinary" with the exception of Housewives, so advertisers would continue to struggle to reach targets for the rest of the year.

He said the "unfortunate experiment" with a programming block for children on TV One was still not delivering, so rates were down 82 per cent across that zone in the fourth quarter. TV2's morning programming for children would cost 50 per cent less, and the rate would drop 41 per cent in the afternoon.