Ethics and economics of TV ads

Commercial advertisement or ad is the lifeblood of television channels. Broadcasters sell air time to advertisers to earn revenue. TV broadcasters, particularly the privately-owned ones, depend mainly on advertising revenue. The state-owned broadcasters, however, are financed by the government, while the pay channels are financed through subscription fees. Some of the state-owned channels are prohibited from carrying advertisement. Private channels cannot do without them.
Both the print and electronic media have seen a proliferation in the country during the last two decades. There are now quite a good number of quality newspapers and journals and their readership has increased widely. And within a span of fourteen years since the fag end of the bygone century, TV channels in the private sector have seen an exponential growth. The country has now more than two dozen TV channels, while many more are in the pipeline. With the rapid growth of the print and electronic media, ad making firms and ad agencies have also grown simultaneously. Advertisement has turned into an industry these days, and this sector provides employment to a sizeable number of people. Apart from commercial aspects, some advertisements are quite interesting and entertaining to the viewers. Again, some ads are indecent and even vulgar, while some ads simply carry untrue, impractical and absurd messages creating some sort of confusion among the viewers and the consumers.
Since private TV channels cannot run without advertisement, they must carry ads; but what will be the volume of that ad has become a big question now. The viewers in Bangladesh are infuriated at the volume of advertisement carried by the TV channels. In fact, advertisement has become a menace and the viewers are totally annoyed at the volume and frequency of advertisement. In some cases ads occupy more than half the total duration of a programme. Almost all TV channels in the country produce many a quality programme including drama, musical show, talent hunting show and many more. The discussion programmes, talk shows, health and education programmes, magazine programmes etc are all informative, educative and entertaining; but it is never possible to concentrate on any programme because of the irritation created by the advertisement. Viewers' attention is diverted with the appearance of an advertisement on the screen. And due to prolonged continuation of ads, it becomes difficult for them to recollect and restore the last link of the ongoing programme. As a result, as the broadcaster switches on the advertisement chunk, the viewer presses the button on the remote to jump to another channel. The new channel too is not free from the vice of advertisement. Soon the viewer encounters the same experience when ads start rolling there one after another, and the viewer again goes to another channel. TV viewers in Bangladesh, particularly in the urban areas where private satellite channels have their footprints, thus hardly watch any programme; what they do is they just play with the remote for sometime sitting before a TV set. Viewers in fact do not watch a programme -- good or bad from A to Z. The very purpose of showing the programme and the ad is thus not served.
There is another impact of indiscriminate airing of ads. Viewers incline to Indian TV channels where ads are aired rationally and on a limited scale. In a particular programme or serial of any Indian channel, viewers are well aware when the ads will appear and how long it will continue. TV channels in Bangladesh do not follow any such rule or ethics. Once the ads start, they continue one after another and the viewers have no idea about where it will end. This is one of the prime causes why Indian serials or Indian channels in general are more liked by the Bangladeshi viewers.
Ads within the news bulletins are more disturbing and annoying. News viewers are serious viewers, and they want to be updated with all events within the shortest possible time and without any intervention. But it is observed that the news bulletins are overcrowded with advertisements. The reason may be the broadcasters get the highest rate for airing ads during news bulletins. It is again observed that different segments of a news bulletin are 'sold' in the name of 'sponsor'; such as, 'ABC Bank' headlines, 'Merchant Bank' business news, 'Northeast Air' international news, 'Himalayan Agency' sports news etc. Even breaks or intervals within the news bulletin are also sold to ad givers, like 'Skyphone' interval. News bulletins should be kept ad-free as far as possible, and it should not be leased to any organisation in the name of sponsor. Such sponsoring only curtails the freedom and objectivity of news. Is it possible to carry any news with objectivity and accuracy if it clashes with the interest of the ad giver or sponsor? The broadcasters have to give a serious second thought to it, if such a situation arises.
No doubt the TV channels need ad for their survival. Moreover, ads sometimes bring relief from monotony, and after brief ads the viewers can start watching the programme with a renewed concentration. Many ads are aesthetic and entertaining, and they create a far reaching impact on the minds of the viewers. So ads, instead of creating annoyance among the viewers, can attract them as well. Ads should be credible and devoid of mere fantasy and impossibility. No misleading or false advertisement should be allowed to go on air. They must be aesthetically good. TV ad or commercial is also known as infomercial. So side by side with sale or promotion of goods or services, a TVC (TV commercial) should combine both entertainment and information. At the same time broadcasters must clearly inform viewers before the ads appear. The viewership of a television channel is often used as a yardstick for determining the rates of advertisement. Again, rates also vary according to the timing and popularity of a particular programme by a particular broadcaster. When it comes to political campaign or political advertising on television, only wealthy candidates or groups can afford it. Moreover, it may mislead the viewers who may think it is the opinion of the broadcasting station. Hence political campaign or political advertising should be restricted for the TV channels, particularly in Bangladesh.
Ads must be planned and aired in a manner that remains within the acceptable and tolerable limit of the viewers. Any programme or news bulletin having the duration of less than 12 minutes should be free of advertisement. In the event of a programme with duration of one hour, the maximum ad limit should be 12 minutes, and in that case the ads must be divided into rational segments keeping the mindset of the viewers in consideration. For a news bulletin having the duration of half an hour the maximum allowable time for an ad is two and a half minutes. There must not be any sponsorship business for news headlines or any other segment of the bulletin. Ads within the children's programme must be chosen very carefully suiting the mindset of the children.
Instead of going for the quantity for enhancing revenue, the TV channels can enhance the rate of advertisement. If the association of the TV owners unitedly takes such a move, the ad agencies or ad givers will have no option. Thus their income will remain same and at the same time they will be able to save their air-time. This will have multifarious impacts on all the stakeholders by saving the viewers from getting disgusted, by helping the people heartily watch the programmes along with the advertisements, saving air time of the broadcasters and thus serving the purpose of the ads. Finally it will make the Bangladeshi viewers homebound in their own country.  
Presently there is no guideline for advertisement, nor there any kind of censorship. The government must formulate a guideline for TV ad, making it mandatory for all broadcasters. Apart from this, each TV channel should have its own policy guideline on advertisement. There also should be an advertisement censor board, and all ads, prior to the telecast, must be vetted by them in line with the guideline.
The writer is Editorial
Consultant of the FE.
Email: [email protected]