Broadcasters agree plan to push TV as a medium
Television broadcasters have finally agreed a plan to promote TV as a medium, but they will not be setting up a formal body to run the marketing initiative as some reports have suggested.
The broadcasters have rejected the idea of a formal advertising bureau for TV along the lines of either the Radio Advertising Bureau or the Newspaper Marketing Agency. Instead, the broadcasters, thought to include ITV, Sky Media, Viacom Brand Solutions, IDS, Five, Channel 4, GMTV and Turner Broadcasting have agreed to work together as a consortium or loose association to market TV by funding a research project, a conference and general TV marketing literature. They will not employ a permanent team of people to organise these initiatives, but will continue to use the services of the Ingram Partnership to implement them.
ITV, as the biggest broadcaster, has contributed the most towards a central marketing fund, but it is thought that the parties will have one vote each when it comes to making decisions on strategy. There is an agreement to fund a research project and a TV conference for next year, but it is not clear whether these initiatives will be annual events.
Separately, Channel 4, BSkyB, ITV and Five are working together to fund research on brands that are new to TV or have recently returned to the medium. They have completed a project for Avon, which has just returned to TV for the first time in 33 years, and are working on two further brands.
