Media buyers say Tesco TV is ‘expensive’

Media buyers say Tesco TV appears to be “expensive” when comparing the supermarket’s ratecard for its in-store televisual network to the cost of traditional media channels.

However, they do admit that the true value of the retailer’s new medium is difficult to judge without seeing how it affects sales of products advertised on the network.

Starcom Motive UK buying director Steve Parker says: “Compared with traditional media, the cost per thousand seems high, but the key to understanding the value of that audience is its effect on sales.”

Tesco is to install plasma screens in 300 of its largest stores by the end of the year, with 100 set to “go live” by June (MW February 19). Content will include news and sports bulletins, information from Tesco and product advertising.

Spencer Berwin, group sales director for JC Decaux, which has been appointed to sell airtime on Tesco TV, says the network cannot be compared to traditional media. He explains: “It provides an opportunity to communicate with customers at the point of sale and to influence what they are going to buy.”

The cost per thousand for ITV1 for all adults across a 24-hour period is about &£7.50. Tesco TV’s cost per thousand shoppers for 100 stores across a two-week period varies depending on the aisle, with grocery priced at &£8.13 and beers, wines and spirits at &£17.78.

Media Planning Group client services director Andrew Canter says: “It sounds very expensive, but the arguments Tesco will produce are that it is point of purchase, that it will potentially lift a brand in terms of sales and that it could be more effective than a break in Coronation Street.”

The cost of two week’s exposure for a ten-second spot on Tesco TV in the grocery aisles of 100 stores is &£50,000, while a 30-second spot in a centre advertising break in ITV1’s Coronation Street costs around &£70,000.