TV, the most preferred media for carrying advertising
TV, the most preferred media for carrying advertising
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty five years on from when events in
Indonesia triggered the establishment of major advertising
agencies in Indonesia, another phenomenon can be observed - a
proliferation in the number of advertising agencies since 1990.
This growth coincides with the establishment of commercial
television broadcasting in Indonesia.
From nowhere, commercial television has moved swiftly to the
top as the preferred media for carrying advertising in Indonesia.
Not so long ago, before permission was granted for licenses in
1989, the commercial television sector was non-existent in
Indonesia. This was the case for most of the 1980s.
In April 1981 the government put a stop to television
commercials on the grounds that advertising would cause excessive
consumerism and materialism among the millions of Indonesians who
still lived in poverty.
Low literacy rates and a low school leaving age have meant
that people were less well positioned to make informed choices
when they encountered advertising, particularly advertising in
the audio-visual electronic media. The state-owned TVRI (Televisi
Republik Indonesia) was the sole television station in Indonesia
at the time.
In advertising expenditures by Indonesian client companies
between 1990 and 1994, one striking fact jumps out from the
tabled figures. That caused by the rise of television. Within
five years, commercial television has taken a lead as the
preferred medium for carrying advertising.
Projected expenditures (from Media Scene 1994/95) on
advertising in 1995 show that 48.3 percent will go to television,
while 32.5 percent will go to newspapers. Television now attracts
about half of the total advertising expenditure in Indonesia, and
its share is still climbing.
Figures sourced from the Indonesian Association of Advertisers
reveal an intriguing profile, that has turned the tables on the
dominant print media within a very short space of time. In 1990,
the percentage share of advertising in newspapers was about 50
percent. A drop to about 32 percent, with four commercial
broadcasters and satellite television to compete with, has not
annihilated the newspapers. Adspend in newspapers can also be
seen to have increased during the same 1990 to 1994 period,
though not in such great proportions.
Paul Kamardi from Matari, which was ranked Indonesia's second
largest agency in 1994 by Cakram, the advertising industry's
magazine, believes that television is the best medium for
advertising. This is because of its audiovisual and
"demonstration effect", its penetration into wide geographical
areas and the ease audiences have in understanding what the
marketers want to convey.
The marketing and promotions management at PT LippoMelco say:
"Indonesian people prefer the visuals of television to those of
reading. This is the problem." Print media has difficulties in
reaching people in the rural areas of Indonesia, which contain
about 70 percent of the population. However, each media has its
own characteristics and print has qualities not available through
the electronic media.
Print affords a greater opportunity for explanation than
television commercials, and the page remains after an image
leaves the screen. The range of media available for advertising
can be seen as mutually supportive.
The penetration of television in Indonesia is considerable.
Although 70 percent of Indonesians still in live in rural areas,
they can be reached by the product marketers via televisions
which the government placed in villages throughout the
archipelago since the establishment of TVRI in the early 1960s.
Indonesia's geographical spread and the discontinuity of its
land mass is not an issue because television can reach everyone,
across the sea and into the hinterlands.
The electronic media advertising window in Indonesia, once
very infrequent and very limited, has opened wide. From September
1993 commercial television stations, previously restricted to big
cities, were allowed to broadcast nationally.
In 1993 advertising expenditures on television rose from the
1992 figure of Rp 390 billion to Rp 613 billion. By 1994 annual
adspend had risen in Indonesia from absolute zero, in the
precommercial television days, to approximately Rp 816 billion.
Even the government-owned TVRI, though not allowed to carry
advertising, benefits from adspend because it receives a revenue
percentage from the commercial television stations.
According to Media Scene 1994/95, advertising expenditures
from 1991 to 1995 in all media have increased. It's just that the
commercial television sector looks so far ahead of the charge.
All articles on this page were written by Jane Scott.