Treg Rekl Në M Shq Advertising Market in Albanian Media
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s Media i Shqiptar Instituti Albanian Media Institute Media Albanian ARE T SHQIP NË MEDIAN MEDIAN NË REKLAMAVE REKLAMAVE TREGU I I TREGU ADVERTISING MARKET IN ALBANIAN MEDIA Albanian Media Institute Instituti Shqiptar i Medias Advertising market in Albanian media With the support of Tirana, 2019 Advertising market in Albanian media 1 Publisher: Rr. Gjin Bue Shpata, No.8, Tiranë, Albania Tel./fax: ++ 355 4 2229800 E-mail: [email protected] www.institutemedia.org This report was completed in cooperation with Monitor magazine. This publication is supported by Open Society Foundation Albania. The opinions expressed in this report are only those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Open Society Foundation for Albania. 2 Advertising market in Albanian media TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................... 5 1. A General Overview of the Media Landscape ........................... 6 2. Methodology ......................................................................................... 9 3.1 Legal Framework on Advertising ............................................... 10 3.2 Market Research and Audience Measurement .................... 13 3.3 Trends of the Advertising Market in the Country ................ 16 3.4 Public Funds pr Media Advertisement ..................................... 35 3.5 Main Trends in the Distribution of Public Funds to Media ............................................................................................... 40 3.7 The Role of Advertising Agencies ............................................... 49 3.6 Local Media and the Influence of State Funds ...................... 46 4. Conclusions ........................................................................................ 53 Advertising market in Albanian media 3 4 Advertising market in Albanian media INTRODUCTION on one hand the economic crisis of the country, and, on the other hand,Albanian the media fact that is going the media through scene a deep is overcrowdedeconomic crisis, with reflecting a large setting based on a pure economic logic. number of actors, who experience difficulties surviving in this level in Albania, due to factors such as legal vacuum, the small size of theThe market advertising and the market dependence has a deep of mediainfluence on economic on the media and integrity political actors. All of these factors lead to a situation where, also due to the low transparency of advertising market, there is a reasonable doubt that there is a direct correlation between advertisers and state advertisement or public funds for media, and impose to some extentmedia thecontent. agenda Similarly, of the political there is party also thein power. possibility of misusing In this context, this publication aims to shed light on the situation of the media advertising market in the country. The problems with transparency or reliability of data regarding the media market in However, the publication attempts to draw an overview of the mainAlbania trends remain of the unsolved advertising for years market and in make the country, this a difficult focusing task. on the size of the market, on the existing legal framework, on state funds, on funds of private companies, as well as on the mechanisms used to allocate the existing funds and the actors involved in this process. In drafting this report the Albanian Media Institute has cooperated closely with the Monitor magazine, which has been following the evolution of the media market and the dynamics and trends of this sector for several years now. Advertising market in Albanian media 5 1. A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE Albania has a rich and dynamic media environment, including electronic media, daily newspapers, and an ever increasing number of online news portals. The Albanian print media market presents a rich landscape with 16 daily newspapers, as well as other publications of various periodicities. The Albanian 48 analogue licenses, 70 cable service providers, as well as 25 IPTVauthorities and OTT have1 licenses. issued five In thenational meantime, digital the broadcasting public broadcaster licenses, also operates its own network with 12 channels. With regards to radio broadcasting, as many as 51 local radio stations operate in the country, including two national radio stations, and four radio stations operated by religious communities2. outlets, as their market is not regulated and they are not required It is difficult to provide the exact number of the online media distinguish between stand-alone online media from websites managedto register by with traditional the authorities. media outlets, Furthermore, as main TVit isstations difficult and to newspapers have adapted to the need of developing their online presence, as well3. However, according to data provided by the Union of Albanian Journalists there are more than 750 news and information websites4. 1 AMA, the list of licensed operators is accessible at: http://ama.gov.al/subjekte-te- autorizuar-per-ofrimin-e-sherbimit-te-programit-audioviziv/# 2 AMA, the list of licensed operators is accessible at: http://ama.gov.al/subjekte-audio/ 3 I. Londo, in Peace Institute, “Media Integrity Matters: Reclaiming public service values and media and journalism,” 2014, chapter on Albania. 4 Interview with Aleksandër Çipa, chairman of the Union of Albanian Journalists. 6 Advertising market in Albanian media Even though the numbers of the media landscape are impressive, the sheer quantity of the media does not necessarily guarantee their pluralism. In fact, in view of the Constitutional Court decision to abrogate the limitation on ownership of national licenses, the prevailing opinion among media experts is that this decision paved the way for de facto monopolization or at least high concentration of the media market. In the current scene, four national digital commercial media sector, which raises concerns on the future of pluralismnetwork licenses in the media out of landscape. five are owned by two main groups in the After 29 years of liberalization of the media market, there is not much progress in having public, systematic, and reliable data on ofmedia the media market market. and media However, finances. it is The clear absence that the of abrogation such data makes of the limitationit difficult toof haveownership a well-informed is a step backward discussion regarding on the current the existing trends legal guarantees on media pluralism. A 2018 study conducted by 5 showed that there is a great concentration of ownership on media outlets. Based on the data from one of theBIRN two Albania audience and RSFmeasurement agencies, the four major media owners in the market control almost half – 48.93% – of the audience share. Based on the data of the other agency four largest owners indicate an even higher concentration, namely 58.6 % of the audience share. The calculations regarding the concentration of the radio and print market also show a similar trend: there is a high concentration of 63.96 percent for the four owners of the radio stations and 43.29 percent for the four main newspaper owners. On the other hand, the measurement of concentration based on audience share of these media is even more alarming: the two main families that own the television stations control more than 70 percent of the television market, while the four above- mentioned media owners account for 89,6 percent of the market. All of this concentration is also translated in a concentration of funds and advertising, which leads to a narrower possibility 5 See https://albania.mom-rsf.org/sq/ Advertising market in Albanian media 7 support their media. This also might cause a narrower narrative in of other operators to have sufficient and satisfactory funds to funds and practicing fair competition does not automatically translatethe media, into even pluralism though inpractice the media has showncontent. that having sufficient 8 Advertising market in Albanian media 2. METHODOLOGY In this context, this report aims to shed light on the situation of the advertising market in the country, on existing legislation on distribution of advertisement, including state advertisement, as well as identify the trends of distribution of the public and private advertisement during the last years in print, electronic, and online media. In addition, attention will be paid to the role of the advertising and marketing agencies and the problem of hidden advertising. For this purpose, the report was based on various sources, such as the cooperation with Monitor magazine on the main data and trends on media advertising for 2018, as well as consultation of databases for distribution of public funds, such as Open Data Albania and the extracts of media companies reports of the media companies. In addition, existing reports on from the National Business Center, including the annual financial used, supplemented with interviews with journalists, editors, and administratorsthis topic and official and managers reports ofof themedia public outlets. authorities Likewise, have part been of the report also consists in legal framework related to advertising regulation, especially in terms of distribution of public funds. The following sections of the report will focus on aspects such as the existing legislation on advertising, the advertising market in the country and its allocation to various media outlets, the legislation on public funds for the media and their distribution, the biggest