The ’ads on the BBC’ press release that rolled off the fax last
Thursday morning pulled no punches about what an ’hilarious romp’ this
was likely to be. This, the corporation promised, was going to be ’very,
very funny’ - what with all those silly voiceovers and pathetic
jingles.
Disappointingly, this wasn’t what it appeared to be. The previous
morning, the culture secretary, Chris Smith, had gone on Radio 4 to
announce that the BBC would probably be allowed to take revenue from
advertisers in the near future. We assumed the release was going to be
about that. But no. This was mischievous BBC timing.
Not that the release was without interest. It puffed Ads Infinitum, a
show courtesy of the Evening Standard’s television critic, Victor
Lewis-Smith, which promises to take a wry, sidelong glance at the wacky
world of advertising.
Victor’s innovative approach will be to ’damn (ads) with faint
praise’.
Chris Tarrant, Clive James and a long line of comics stretching back to
Ethelred the Slightly Amusing must be beside themselves with
jealousy.
The show could just turn out to be an outstanding example of the
programme-maker’s art. After all, only very special types of programme
are ever hyped as ’hilarious’. Anything hosted by Jeremy Beadle, for
instance.
But back to Smith’s pronouncement that the BBC was going to take ad
money.
Not commercials as such and not on the main terrestrial channels but
sponsorship on the BBC’s digital output.
This is no mean concession and it will no doubt cause golf club bores in
Tunbridge Wells to splutter into their pink gins.
Advertisers have been daydreaming for years about snuggling up to the
BBC’s quality programme environment. However, this might just be a
disappointment.
This is digital - nice programmes, maybe, but no-one will be
watching.
Jim Marshall, the chief executive of MediaVest, says it’s odd that the
Government seems to give the BBC more leeway than ITV - compare last
week’s statement with all the fuss about News at Ten. But he expects
advertisers will be keen to get involved: ’It would depend on the
programmes on offer and on things like penetration and viewership
because initially that will be minimal. But it would be a fantastic
opportunity. Ultimately, sponsorship is all about the right environment,
and the association between advertisers and that environment, and the
BBC has superb programmes and brands.’
Tess Alps, the executive chairman of Drum PHD, confesses she would love
to be first in the queue: ’From a professional point of view, I can’t
think of anything more exciting than being given the chance to undertake
this responsibly. From a personal point of view, I would want the BBC to
remain funded by the licence fee forever. I hope this is totally
supplementary to the licence fee and they have means of ensuring that.
Realistically, one suspects that once you get a new source of revenue
like this, the licence fee will be undermined. But whatever way you look
at it, this is entirely reasonable. It is, after all, introducing three
free-to-air channels.’
And she warns that the BBC must be very clear about what it’s
selling.
She states: ’The BBC has to operate this with an iron fist. At present,
there’s a lot of debate between advertisers and commercial channels who
want more of a say in how the sponsorship looks. That obviously winds up
advertisers. On the other hand, some advertisers and their agencies have
been less than responsible in the past. The BBC must be proactive and
unequivocal. It must state exactly what it would expect from a
particular brand and then we can work back from that and set the price.’
