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.