Food, drink rule Euro 2008 TV commercials

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/28/2008 11:55 AM | Business

Get energized with food and drink or a friend's call, rather than with a cigarette, is the message television viewers in Indonesia have received during the midnight broadcasts of Euro 2008 soccer matches over the past few weeks, a study shows.

An AGB Nielsen Media Research study of advertising spending during the preliminary and quarterfinal matches in four big cities in Indonesia -- Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya -- found that fast-food chain McDonald's was the biggest spender, filling one-third of the advertisement spots available.

The duration of a TV advertising spot can be 10, 15 and 30 seconds.

The isotonic drink Extra Joss was the next biggest spender, probably foreseeing the energy boost viewers would need the next day after staying up late to watch the matches.

Mobile phone service providers Indosat and Mobile 8 were third and fourth on the list of top advertisers, beating cigarette companies Djarum Super and Sampoerna Mild.

A political party, Partai Amanat Rakyat (PAN), and bank BNI were also among the top advertising spenders trying to grab the attention of the male-dominated viewers.

"This year the advertising pattern is very different from the previous Euro competition in 2004, but it has not differed from normal evenings," Andiri Wijendaru of AGB Nielsen Media Research said Friday.

Break times during Euro 2004 were filled by Gudang Garam cigarette, Krating Daeng energy drink, telecommunications company Telkom, LG television and Garuda roasted peanuts.

On normal evenings, cigarette ads are missing from the TV, leaving the space to be dominated by McDonald's, Mobile 8, Clear shampoo, Molto fabric softener, Top and Pop ice creams, and Sunsilk shampoo.

The Euro matches are being broadcast live by three private television stations -- RCTI, Global TV and TPI -- from around 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. and from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

On average, the matches have drawn up to 1.2 million viewers in the four cities covered for the early game, up by a third from usual nights, and 779,000 viewers for the second game, down by about the same amount from usual.

More than half of viewers are adult men, most white and blue-collar workers. Around 134,000 adult female viewers also sacrifice their sleep, up from 37,000 on normal evenings. Students, however, have been conspicuously absent.

"Probably because of the students' exam period. They prefer to watch the replay the next day," Andini said.

Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Yogyakarta have had about 36 million viewers for the matches so far, up from 30 million in 2004. Forty-three percent of them adult men and 30 percent adult women.

Andini said the viewing pattern for the final match should be similar to the most popular matches studied so far.

"The most popular game was between France and Italy in the preliminary round, which had a 50 percent share of television viewers in the four cities," she said. (mri)

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