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For
Filipinos who had no access to HBO’s pay-per-view (PPV)
service, trying to watch the Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz
fight on Sunday was an extremely excruciating
experience. What was supposed to have been a 30-minute
contest for the World Boxing Council lightweight title
was actually stretched to four hours or so.
Not a
few viewers were still watching the opening card when
they began getting the following text message from
friends and kin with PPV access: “Pacquiao wins via
TKO.” That was around 11 a.m. Millions of free TV
viewers, however, never got to see Pacman deck the
Mexican-American champion from Chicago until around
two-and-a-half hours later.
Of
course, like a free lunch, there really is no such thing
as free television. Viewers realize that commercial
broadcasting, by definition, is a business. They
understand that having their viewing interrupted by
commercials is the penalty they need to pay to go on
watching TV. Far too often, however, they are made to
endure far too many advertisements.
For
instance, the delayed—extremely delayed—telecast of the
Pacquiao-Diaz bout highlighted the abuse to which the
networks regularly subject viewers. On Sunday it was GMA
7, along with content provider Solar Entertainment, that
was the culprit. In previous bouts, ABS-CBN has shown
itself quite capable of similar excesses. If given half
the chance, the smaller stations would resort to the
same advertising overkill. Local broadcasters evidently
regard a special coverage, like on Sunday’s “Lethal
Combination” in Las Vegas, as an opportunity to engage
in brazen profiteering.
Yet,
even in their regular programming, GMA 7, ABS-CBN and
the other TV networks have been criticized for
commercial overload. Among the networks’ more
knowledgeable critics is no less than a top Filipino
advertising executive.
In a
report posted on the web site of Xinhua news agency,
Emily Abrera was quoted saying the Philippines has the
highest commercial load in the world—some 18 minutes for
every hour.
Abrera,
regional chairman of the New York-based advertising
agency McCann World, noted there are too many ads on TV.
In response, viewers go channel-surfing with the aid of
their remote control and return to their favorite show
only when the commercial flurry has passed.
Speaking
at the 2008 World Marketing Conference held in Manila
last month, Abrera said too many commercials have forced
viewers to adapt, and they have developed behavior that
is anti-advertisement.
“You
will note that people are continuously watching several
channels simultaneously,” Abrera was quoted saying.
“People have evolved this wonderful sense of timing so
that they know that as soon as commercials come on, they
go to. . . something else.”
The
advertising executive added: “So, in other words,
[viewers are] tracking several programs at the same
time. And they come back almost as soon as that last
spot is ending. They’re very good at that already.”
For
viewers, commercial overkill is just an inconvenience.
However, for advertisers who pay ad agencies and the
networks to have their messages formulated, packaged and
delivered to masses of consumers, it ultimately amounts
to a waste of money.
When you
come right down to it, advertisers are the real victims
in what amounts to a sting pulled every day by GMA 7,
ABS-CBN, et al. The networks promise advertisers their
commercials will reach x-number of viewers. But because
commercial overload turns away growing numbers of
viewers, those expensively made—and placed—ads never get
to reach their target audiences.
According to a content analysis of the two leading
networks’ programs conducted by students of De La Salle
University, GMA 7 has an average commercial load of 30
minutes per hour and ABS-CBN some 15 to 20 minutes per
hour.
According to Abrera, the local advertising industry has
prescribed a limit of 18 minutes of commercials per hour
of broadcast, which is already the highest in the
region. In other Asian countries, TV ads are limited to
between 12 and 14 minutes per hour.
Notwithstanding the generous latitude that the
advertising industry allows media outlets, the two
biggest networks continue to flout the commercial-load
limit with total impunity. And that is just for regular
programs.
During a
special broadcast, like last weekend’s much-awaited
prizefight, the networks invariably lose all sense of
decency and run amuck. No wonder the world’s greatest
religions uniformly classify cupidity as a sin.
As on
the individual level, corporate avarice is, in the final
analysis, counterproductive.
“When we
overload [TV programs] with commercials, we are actually
teaching people how to avoid them,” Abrera said. “We’re
giving them the greatest reason to avoid watching our
work. And what worries me the most is that we’re losing
our audience for our commercials.”
Abrera
arrived at the obvious conclusion when she pointed out
the need for more regulation of TV commercials in the
Philippines. “It’s something that needs to be
addressed,” she said. “And we cannot continue
interrupting programs.”
Unfortunately, weeks after Abrera delivered her warning,
the networks have shown no willingness to—in the
immortal words of whistle blower Jun Lozada—temper their
greed. |
