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Confidence returns?
16 July 2010
The New Zealand Television Broadcasters' Council (NZTBA) has released figures showing a 5.4% increase in the amount of money spent on television advertising during the first half of 2010.
Figures from the major networks show TV revenue for the second quarter of 2010 was $149 million, an increase of $10.5 million or 7.7 per cent on the same period last year.
It is the second consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth for the industry. For the first half of 2010, revenue growth was $13.9 million over 2009, an increase of 5.4 per cent over the first half of 2009.
Of course it should not be forgotten than the first half of 2009 was dire for the industry with revenue falling $39.4m (13.3%) from heady days of 2008.
TVNZ ondemand on PS3
20 April 2010
From today TVNZ 's Ondemand service is available on Sony PlayStation3 consoles.
The content and advertising currently available on TVNZ's website can be accessed directly via the PS3 interface. For more information read the review on Geekzone.
Paul Maher returns to TVNZ
20 April 2010
Starcom MediaVest Group Executive Vice President Paul Maher has been named as TVNZ's new Head of Sales and Marketing.
Mr Maher has had a long history with the TVNZ having been General Manager of Agency Sales some ten years ago and later in 2006 when he helped develop the company's strategic plan, "Inspiring New Zealanders On Every Screen".
TVNZ Chief Executive Rick Ellis said Mr Maher would start in the role, which was created in last month's restructuring of the company's executive team, in August.
"Paul has enjoyed an outstanding international career with Starcom MediaVest Group, one of the world's largest media and communication companies. As well as his current role, he has been CEO North Asia, CEO New Zealand, CEO Canada and Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer China and Hong Kong," Mr Ellis said.
"His appointment will be valuable to TVNZ in its transition from being a traditional analogue broadcaster into being New Zealand's leading digital television and media company."
C42 coming 2 freeview
15 April 2010
MediaWorks has announced the launch of C42, an alternative digital music channel to play exclusively on Channel 9 of the Freeview platform.
C42 will be launched on May 1st, to celebrate the start of NZ Music Month and will offer New Zealand music considerable representation with a commitment to up to 30 per cent local content.
C42 is a brand extension of C4 which has extended beyond its music channel origins to become a general youth entertainment channel.
MediaWorks' Andrew Szusterman says: “We're happy to be able to offer a true freeto-air 24-hour nationwide music television service that will play everything from The Clash through to The Clean,"
An arrangement between MediaWorks and PPNZ will ensure videos and artists represented by IMNZ (the New Zealand trade body for independent record labels and distributors) represent a larger portion of the playlist.
TVNZ to launch new channel on SKY
5 March 2010
The new channel, named TVNZ Heartland, to be launched in June will be New Zealand's first channel with 100% local content and will be available to all subscribers to the SKY basic package.
The new channel, named TVNZ Heartland, to be launched in June will be New Zealand's first channel with 100% local content and will be available to all subscribers to the SKY basic package.
Chief Executive Rick Ellis said TVNZ Heartland would be a showcase of New Zealand's best home-grown television.
"Heartland will be a celebration of New Zealand and New Zealanders through some of our finest TV shows - some classics and some more recent shows."
Mr Ellis said the move to include pay TV in the company's portfolio of platforms was a logical extension of TVNZ's strategy "Inspiring New Zealanders on Every Screen", which began in 2006.
"We're delighted to be entering the pay TV market in partnership with SKY TV, as a complement to our free-to-air business", he said.
"SKY's enthusiasm for the idea has given us an opportunity to build a commerically viable channel that will bring first class New Zealand content to a big audience. Without the SKY pay platform, this project would not have gone ahead".
John Fellet, CEO of SKY Television, is equally delighted.
"This vault of content which includes some of New Zealand's most beloved shows is the biggest untapped resource since the Maui oil fields", he said.
TVNZ Heartland will be a commercial channel with limited advertising inventory available. TVNZ will sell that inventory.
The channel is expected to have broad appeal, although is likely to skew to AP 40-64 given the combination of classic shows and more recent programmes.
TVNZ is currently formulating sales packs for the new channel and will bring information to the market within the next two weeks.
New executive team at mediaworks
1 March 2010
MediaWorks has announced a reshuffle of executive responsibilities and poached the heir apparent from TVNZ.
Sussan Turner, the CEO of MediaWorks Radio, is appointed to the position of Group Managing Director, assuming control of the Group which includes TV3, C4, ten radio networks and brands and the Company’s VOD and on-line business.
Sussan Turner is replaced as CEO of the Company’s Radio division by Belinda Mulgrew.
Jason Paris is appointed to the position of CEO of TV3 and C4. Mr Paris was formerly the Head of Digital Media and Marketing at TVNZ. He will take over in June from Ian Audsley, who joined the Company on a limited-term contract in December. Mr Audsley will continue as Executive Director, TV until June when he will become a non-executive director of the Company.
Company Chairman, Brent Harman, commented: “This is an immensely talented management team. Sussan Turner has demonstrated her management skill by building MediaWorks’ radio brands into market leaders in content, marketing and profitability. She has a very strong operational and profit focus.
“Jason Paris is a young executive of exceptional talent and ability. As Head of Digital Media at TVNZ, Jason is widely regarded as the architect of TVNZ’s digital transformation strategy. We are delighted to have appointed an emerging New Zealand business leader of Jason’s vision and drive.
“And, as business development manager of MediaWorks Radio, Belinda Mulgrew has assisted in delivering the strategy and development and profitability of our portfolio of radio assets, and is a well respected senior manager inside the Group.”
Kerry McIntosh of Ironbridge Capital, said the shareholders of MediaWorks were delighted with the appointments.
“In a period of sustained revenue and bottom line pressure, Sussan Turner has delivered consistent results. We are confident that the team she has assembled will operate in a dynamic way to strategically position the Company for the future.
“From his positions at TVNZ, Jason Paris brings a wealth of relevant experience to MediaWorks and in addition to running television, he will apply his substantial digital media experience across MediaWorks’ broadcasting and on-line assets.
“And Belinda Mulgrew, as Sussan’s deputy in Radio, has demonstrated her ability to manage the Company’s highly profitable Radio division.
“We are very excited about the future,” Mr McIntosh said.
Caretaker or Undertaker?
10 December 2009
MediaWorks has announced the appointment of Ian Audsley as Executive Director of its television business for the next 12 months.
Mr Audsley, 48, described by the NZ Herald as a “tough-talking Aussie”, was formally COO of the Nine Network in Australia and most recently ran his own media consultancy.
Surprisingly his appointment is only for 12 months and Brent Harman, Chairman of the MediaWorks Board, has made it clear that the Board intends to “recruit a suitably qualified executive to work with Ian and eventually take over the running of the TV business.”
Which begs the question of what realistically can be accomplished in 12 months?
It seems naive to imagine that he can devised and implement a new digital and online strategy for TV3 and C4 (as suggested in the press release) or overhaul TV3 approach to local production (as suggested in the NZ Herald interview) in just 240 or so working days.
One can only speculate that he has been brought in as a caretaker until the Board’s preferred candidate becomes available or he has been tasked with the unpopular job of cutting costs.
If you believe the rumours in Sydney, or put any stock in his track record, then you would have to put your money on it being the latter.
CEO resigns from MediaWorks
25 November 2009
After 10 years running MediaWorks, the broadcast media company that owns TV3 and C4, Brent Impey announced on Monday that he will be stepping down at the end of this year.
Impey role will not be replaced as MediaWorks has decided to appoint separate CEOs for its Radio and Television divisions.
Sussan Turner, currently COO of MediaWorks Radio will become CEO of the radio business and the company is recruiting for a new TV business chief executive.
The decision to split the role has heightened industry speculation that Ironbridge, MediaWorks’ venture capitalist owners, intents to split up the company and sell it off as two independent entities.
Brent Harman, Chairman of the MediaWorks Board, has downplayed this speculation. “The business is in very good shape and so it’s a case of business as usual for the Company,” said Mr Harman.
Although no longer CEO, Impey will not be disappearing immediately. “The Board and shareholders wish to retain my services and input into the Company’s development and we have agreed on a part time consultancy until early 2011. This will allow for consistency and a smooth transition for the business,” he said.
TVNZ's Profits drop 89%
5 October 2009
State-owned TVNZ has announced an 89% drop in annual profit, due to $17.1m drop is advertising revenue thanks to the recession.
Click here to read the full report.
The company made a small profit of $2.1 million for the year to 30 June, compared with $19.4 million for the previous 12 months.
TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis (pictured) said the company would have been unable to remain profitable without the cost cutting initiatives announced earlier this year.
That said, the company's operating costs for the year still increased 2.6% to $374.7m so the effectiveness of the cuts won't be known until next financial year.
Advertising revenue dropped to 5.5% which dragged total revenues down to $384.8m.
TVNZ will pay its sole shareholder, the Government, a measly dividend of $1.4 million, down from $10.3 million last year. The Government also gets $9.4m less in tax this year.
PRIME JOINS FREEVIEW
17 August 2009
From today Prime TV will be available on Feeview's digital free-to-air satellite and HD platforms. The only surprise is that the press release was snuck out on a Sunday just a few hours before the deal went live.
Sky TV, Prime TV's owners, have been coming under increasing pressure all year to put Prime on Freeview so this announcement comes as no surprise.
That is not to say it was an easy decision. Prime's inclusion on Freeview increases its reach but also increases the appeal of TNVZ's planned TiVo service, the only serious competitor to Sky's MYSKY box.
Sky had argued that the decision would be made on purely economic grounds but the Sunday night press release, and Sky's media silence, suggests that it may have been somewhat political.
76% of TVNZ's online viewers are women
21 July 2009
New research shows that TVNZ’s OnDemand service is mainly being watched by younger women to catch up on missed television shows.
A poll of over 600 viewers contacted by research firm Colmar Brunton showed that 76% of OnDemand's viewers were female and 80 per cent were under 40. Nine out of 10 watched at home.
The most watched online in June were Shortland Street, Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl.
Catching-up on missed episodes or parts of episodes accounted for 71 per cent of viewing. Another 7 per cent were re-watching programmes they had already seen with the remainder claiming they always watched a particular programme online.
Freeview in 15.9% of NZ homes
21 July 2009
The latest sales figures from Freeview, the free-to-air digital broadcasting consortium, indicate that 255,048 households are now able to receive Freeview.
The increase in quarterly sales appears to be driven by both a decline in the price of stand alone receivers and the fact that many new television sets come with a built-in Freeview receiver.
“One of the key drivers for our growth in the last quarter has been the sharp deals available in retail, which is partly due to new brands coming into the market with Freeview approved products,” says Sam Irvine, Freeview's General Manager..
One unanswered question is how many of Freeview's claimed 255,048 households also have Sky? As most new television sets automatically include a Freeview receiver, the overlap will surely increase.
It seems reasonable to assume that all dual digital households will continue watching television through their Sky box and may never actually watch Freeview broadcasts. After all, they pay a monthly fee for the privilege.
Click here for background information of Freeview.
SLAP ON WRIST FOR TV3
3 July 2009
TV3 has escaped with just a slap on the wrist after being found guilty of breaching the 'no ads on Sunday mornings' rule during its broadcast of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Earlier this year TV3 was found guilty of breaching section 81 of the Broadcasting Act. Having been found guilty, they could have been fined up to $300,000.
In general, advertising is banned from television from 6am to noon on Sunday mornings. The exception is if the broadcast originates from outside New Zealand, is transmitted simultaneously to audiences outside and inside New Zealand and is aimed primarily at audiences outside New Zealand.
TV3 decided to ignore this rule and included ads in its World Cup coverage. Their defence was that the signal (including ads) originated in France and was simultaneously screened in the Pacific Islands.
Failing that, TV3's hope must surely have been that any legal penalties would be dwarfed by the extra advertising revenue.
The Auckland District Court rejected TV3's defence and ruled that the ads were primarily aimed at New Zealanders. Having established a clear precedent, Judge Allison Sinclair let them off without a fine and simply ordered them to pay $5,390 in legal and court fees.
TV3 are understandable "very happy" with the result.
Freeview in 14% of homes
30 April 2009
Freeview, the free-to-air digital broadcasting consortium, claims that its sales figures confirm that it now reaches more than 14% of all New Zealand households.
Figures for the three months ending March 2009 show Freeview is now available in 226,141, or 14.1%, of permanent households.
This figure is made up of the Freeview satellite service which launched in May 2007 (155,482 or 9.7%) and the Freeview|HDTM service, which launched in April last year (70,659 or 4.4%).
“We are ahead of forecast and are tracking well towards more homes watching free-to-air digital television,” says Sam Irvine, Acting General Manager.
The bigger picture is the plan to switch off analogue broadcasting once 75% of households have access to digital television, or 2012, whichever is sooner.
Freeview operates as a not-for-profit company and is jointly owned by TVNZ (45%), MediaWorks (32%), Maori Television (18%) and Radio New Zealand Limited (5%).
In March TVNZ announced that they intended to use Freeview as the basis for their launch of Tivo services. However, there have been rumours of a tiff between TVNZ and MediaWorks over Tivo’s access of Freeview’s electronic programme guide.
Tivo needs this guide to work properly but TVNZ seems to have forgotten to ask MediaWorks if they would be willing to share this proprietary information. Without an agreement, Tivo's launch looks to be in jeopardy.
tvnz on demand
17 April 2009
PRESS RELEASE - TVNZ ondemand hit an all-time high last month, with 1,376,697 streams viewed in March and a 43% increase in unique users, up to 207,803 New Zealanders.
Local shows Shortland Street and Dancing With The Stars proved the most popular with viewers, closely followed by Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy.
Viewing numbers were also boosted by Coronation Street. The UK favourite has proved enormously successful, coming in fifth in its first few weeks on the site.
TVNZ is also thrilled about the return of Gossip Girl to TV2 and TVNZ ondemand, where it performed strongly in 2008, plus the new online-only series, Rockville CA from Gossip Girl and Chuck creator, Josh Schwartz.
TVNZ’s GM of Digital and Interactive Advertising, Mark Copplestone, says that TVNZ offers solus position advertising on TVNZ ondemand, and purchase around premium content.
“We can give advertisers guaranteed audience delivery through TVNZ ondemand. Which is an excellent addition to television spot buying because it extends an advertiser’s audience reach.”
5 years of Maori TV
3rd April 2009
Maori Television is celebrating its fifth on-air anniversary and has launched a revamped version of its website which includes on-demand programming. The scrapping of the TVNZ Charter should also help with the next five years.
A statutory corporation, Maori Television was setup as something of a joint venture between the Government and Te Putahi Paoho (Maori Television Service Electoral College) which represents a number of national Maori organisations.
For those overseas, Maori TV is a bilingual channel. Te Reo, its one-year-old second channel, is 100% Maori language with no advertising or subtitles.
The broadcaster's main focus has been on the delivery of locally produced shows, free-to-air sport and coverage of events of significance to all New Zealanders, for example, its award winning Anzac Day programming.
Social and economic impact
At the official birthday celebrations in Wellington last week, the station announced the results of a study into the social and economic impact of the past five years. Besides reaching 1.5 million Kiwi's each month and employing 165 people, the station estimates that a further 2,500-3,000 owe their livelihoods to the stations existence.
Maori TV's future is also looking rosy as it is expected to be the big winners from the Government’s decision to scrap TVNZ’s public broadcasting Charter.
Under the TVNZ Charter the Government provided $15m of funding for, amongst other things, programming that enables “all New Zealanders to have access to material that promotes Maori language and culture.”
It seems reasonable to expect Maori TV to pick-up a big chunk of this now that it is "fully contestable” through NZ On Air.
Tivo to launch by Christmas
27th March 2009
TVNZ has finally confirmed it acquired a 33% stake in Hybrid Television Services, the exclusive licensee of TiVo in Australia and New Zealand, from Seven Media Group.
The deal is rumoured to be worth about NZ$15m in cash and airtime on TVNZ's channels. Seven Media Group owns the remaining 67% but a third investor is apparently being wooed.
Hybrid Television Services immediately began using some of that contra airtime with the launch of a 'coming soon' ad campaign. No dates given but people are encouraged to register their interest at mytivo.co.nz.
Freeview on steroids
The TiVo media device will allow viewers to receive all free-to-air digital TV channels (i.e. only those channels currently on Freeview) as well as broadband content, services and games.
Since rumours of the deal leaked a few weeks ago there has been much speculation as to what TVNZ is hoping to achieve with this acquisition. On the face of it, the TiVo media device is similar to the existing MYFREEVIEW box.
The big difference is the broadband connection which allows TiVo users to download pay-per-view movies, access online shopping and information services through their television and have remote access to their Tivo.
This gives TVNZ a direct billing relationship with every TiVo household (120,000 in five year time). In theory they can sell anything they want through this shop window.
There is a very detailed article in this week's NBR on TiVo's New Zealand functionality.
The NBR is also reporting that TiVo’s one click ad skipping function will be disabled in New Zealand and even fast forwarding ads during on-demand services will be restricted.
Prime TV's next move?
Sky TV are coming under increased pressure to put Prime on Freeview. Prime is currently the only free-to-air channel missing from Freeview's line-up.
This is a tricky decision for Sky as Prime's inclusion on Freeview would increase the appeal of Freeview (and hence TiVo) and increase Prime's audience reach. The downside is that TiVo is also the only serious competitor for Sky's MYSKY box.
NEW ADVERTISING REGIONS
26th March 2009
TVNZ has announced that it is restructuring its advertising regions to improve reach and cost efficiencies for its regional advertisers.
From July there will no longer be a regional advertising breakout
on TV2, and the TV One regional break-out will be extended to the Sky and
Freeview satellite platforms, giving access to additional households in each region.
The current Palmerston North and Wellington regional breakouts will be combined into one region, called Central. In addition, TVNZ is scrapping the national digital-only region.
TVNZ and SKY extend carriage agreement
This news follows yesterday's announcement that Sky had agreed to run all of TVNZ's channels on its satellite platform.
The HD feeds of TV One and TV2 will be available on MYSKYHD from June 1 and TVNZ6 and 7 will be available to all Sky viewers from July 1.
The Tivo deal
Later today TVNZ is also expected to announce the details of the deal with Australia's Seven Network to launch Tivo in New Zealand. Watch this space.
TVNZ's half year results
25 March 2009
A “satisfactory performance” for the first half of the 08/09 financial year but tougher conditions forecast into 2010.
TVNZ reported an after-tax half year profit of $18.2 million, down $2.4 million on the same period last year. Operational earnings (earnings before interest, tax and financial instruments) were $27.7 million, compared with $32.3 million for last year.
Click to view the 2009 Interim Report.
In addition to declining advertising income, TVNZ’s future production funding is also coming under pressure. Over the weekend Prime Minister John Key confirmed that the Government is scrapping TVNZ's public broadcasting charter.
The $15 million previously given directly to the company to produce local shows will now be “fully contestable” through NZ On Air.
$25 million in cost reductions
16th March 2009
PRESS RELEASE - TVNZ today announced to its staff its plan to achieve $25 million in cost reductions and savings.
TVNZ today announced to its staff its plan to achieve $25 million in cost reductions and savings.
TVNZ Chief Executive Rick Ellis said cost reductions and savings would be made from the programme budget, departmental operating budgets and from about 90 proposed redundancies.
The proposed payroll cost reductions represent approximately 25 percent of the cost reductions. Departmental operating budgets had been reduced by approximately 10 percent. The cuts to programme commissioning budgets equates to about 100 hours or approximately 3 percent of local content hours. The impact on TV ONE and TV2 prime time schedules is not expected to be material. The News and Current Affairs programme line-up will remain unchanged.
The proposed redundancies come from across the business including Technology, Finance & Legal, Support Services, HR, Corporate Affairs, Broadcast Services, Marketing, Television, Sports, News and Current Affairs. There are limited redundancies in Sales and none in Emerging Business (on-line and licensing) because they are the revenue earning and growth areas of the company.
There will be a salary freeze for the CEO, executive team and senior managers.
Mr Ellis said staff had come up with a number of cost reduction and savings ideas and many were being actioned.
He said there had been the suggestion to reduce to a four day week or a nine day fortnight. Unfortunately in most parts of the business, given its complexity, this wasn’t practical. Even so, a small number of people may agree to move to a four day working week and others may change from full-time to part-time.
Finding the right mix of savings to get to the $25 million target had been a difficult balancing act.
He said the outlook was uncertain for advertising-reliant media around the world.
“That’s why TVNZ will be accelerating its strategy to transform the business from a traditional analogue advertising-reliant broadcaster to that of a multi-platform digital media company with diverse income streams.”
For more information please contact:
Megan Richards, External Communications Manager, 021 804123
Setting industry standards
24th February 2009
Traffic Managers from TVNZ, MediaWorks and Sky/Prime met in Auckland last Wednesday to co-ordinate common procedures and industry standards. Below is a summary of their key decisions.
The three working day deadline
The stations reported an increase in the number of erroneous playout instructions received from advertising agencies. Typically, this involves a mismatch between the material supplied and the instructed copy.
This problem becomes a crisis if, as is increasingly common, the agency has delayed instructing material to just a few hours before broadcast. When instructions don't arrive on time the broadcasters have no way if check details until it is almost too late.
All broadcasters reconfirmed the industry standard deadline of three (3) working days prior to broadcast for both material and instructions.
An industry standard for key numbers
In a further effort to minimise errors, all stations agreed to adopt an industry standard for the creation of key numbers. Irregular key numbers are a perennial problem as they often need to be revised or shortened to fit with broadcasting systems. The risk is that Presentation will not be able to match a commercial with its instructions and will not put the commercial to air.
The following standards will come into force from 1 April 2009:
- A typical key number will include no more than 12 alphanumeric characters. Dashes, slashes and hyphens are treated as spaces and are ignored.
- The key number must identify the advertiser and duration of the commercial as well as contain a unique reference for each piece of material supplied by the advertiser. The correct format is advertiser/duration/material reference (e.g. ABC 030 0001). This ensures that no advertiser will ever have two commercials with the same last four digits.
- Only technical corrections should be denoted with an 'R' suffix. Any changes to the actual contents on the commercial require a new key number.
The Commercial Approvals Bureau (CAB) was tasked with publicising and enforcing this new industry standard.
Storing old dubs
All stations confirmed that they typically only have enough storage capacity to hold dubs for 3-6 months after the date of the last broadcast. Advertisers would be wise to assume that any commercial that has not run for three months needs to be resupplied.
The broadcasters also agreed to start requesting expiry dates with material instructions. For example, a "this weekend only" retail commercial does not need to stored for six months.
For more information on this forum you can contact:
Trevor Easton at Sky Television
Rosslyn Turnbull at TVNZ
Shane Todd at MediaWorks
2008 TV Viewing numbers
13th January 2009
The New Zealand Television Broadcasters’ Council is reporting that television viewing numbers hit record highs in 2008.
PRESS RELEASE - Television viewing in New Zealand is proving more popular than ever before. 2008 was a record year for television viewing, with the average person watching 3 hours 8 minutes per day, up 8.6% over 2007. This is the highest level of television viewership achieved in New Zealand since records began.
Not only was each viewer watching more television, but there were also more viewers. 3,924,400 people watched television last year, compared to 3,824,600 in 2007.
On average, 35.6% of the entire population (5+) was watching television during the peak viewing period of 6pm to 10:30pm, an increase of 4.7% over 2007. On average 2,452,600 people tuned in to television at some point each evening, up from 2,360,400 in 2007.
"With strong ratings for local news and current affairs programmes as well as locally produced drama, sport and comedy, New Zealand has never been better served by its broadcasters, and the public is proving that by watching television in record numbers," said Rick Friesen, Chief Executive of the NZTBC.
"Despite the proliferation and growth of new and alternative media, it is pleasing to see a traditional media like television growing in the current environment. As many experts predicted, it seems that content from these newer media outlets are helping grow interest in traditional television programming," said Mr Friesen.
(All viewing statistics courtesy AGB Nielsen Media Research)
For further information, please contact:
Rick Friesen
Chief Executive
New Zealand Television Broadcasters' Council
Email: rick@nztbc.co.nz
Ads in fast forward
10th January 2009
In the age of MySky, DVR's and MyFreeview it may come as something of a relief to know that television advertising still has the power to influence consumers' even when they're watching in fast-forward.
The Economist recently reported on the findings of Adam Brasel and James Gips of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College in Massachusetts. They observed that when people fast-forward through the commercials they are probably paying more attention to the ads than they would if the advertisements were playing a normally speed.
Click here read the report.
When kids stay up late
6th January 2009
The NZ Herald's headline 'Violent video game ad sneaks into kids' viewing time' is rather alarmist but highlights a perennial problem for broadcasters.
Perhaps a more accurate headline would have been "Kids' viewing time sneaks into violent video game ad time".
The story is very familiar; a family movie screened during the school holidays starts early so that the whole family can watch it together but finishes after the 8:30pm watershed. Parents watching with their kids are shocked to see adults only content (in this case an ad for Grand Theft Auto IV) during the commercial breaks.
The ad in question was rated AO so, correctly, was only screened after 8:30pm. It s not practical to rule that only G rated commercials can run in G rated programmes as the majority of television after 8:30pm is actually G rated.
During the school holidays many parents let their kids stay up later than usual. Anticipating this most broadcasters rejig their programming. This has implications for the ad-scheduling folks who have the tricky task of picking out the ads that would normally be okay but are problematic during these extend family viewing times.
In this case we think they got in right as the ad in question is rather harmless - its AO rating reflects the fact that the game is sold with a R18 restriction not that the commercial is particularly violent.
In time we expect that the ASCB will be asked to rule on if this commercial's placement breaches any of the Codes of Advertising Practice.
We'll let you know what they decide.
UPDATE - 23 March 2009. In the end the ASCB did not have to rule on the appropriateness of screening AO rated commercials in G rated films that run after 8:30pm. The advertiser said that they did not intend to advertise during that particular film and the broadcaster apologies for the placement. The matter was ruled as 'resolved' by the ASCB's Chairman.