From: FOI To: Subject: FOI 98/16 - 2011 Alternative vote referendum Date: 16 August 2016 15:43:41

Dear , Our Ref: FOI 98/16 Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated 24 June 2016, with clarification received 27 July 2016. The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and has done so within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days. Your request is in bold below followed by our response. You have requested: Could you provide me with the channels and medium and there designation eg. ITV Smooth fm used to advertise the referendum and budget and the body that ordered the advert. Our response is as follows: We hold the information you have requested. We ran our 2011 campaign ahead of the referendum on the Parliamentary voting system in combination with our campaigns ahead of the 2011 London Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and local elections, as these polls coincided with the referendum. Great Britain We bought media in Great Britain through advertising agency M4C, who were contracted to do all public sector media buying at that time. We had a media budget of £2,932,000 in Great Britain. The media budget was broken down as follows: Cost TV £1,992,700 Radio £320,000 Digital £618,300 Our TV advertising ran across ITV, Channel 4, S4C (Welsh language), Five, Sky and 11 stations aimed and black and minority ethnic communities. Our radio advertising in Great Britain ran across a wide range of local radio stations (39). A full list of stations and regions targeted is below: Station Region Kiss East East of England Heart Cambridgeshire East of England Heart East Anglia East of England Kiss 100 FM London Sunrise Radio (Greater London) London Heart London London Heart Essex London Heart Four Counties London Heart Thames Valley London Heart West Midlands Midlands Galaxy Birmingham Midlands Heart 106 FM East Midlands Midlands First Radio Total (England Only) National Real Radio (North East) - (was Century Radio) North East Galaxy North East North East TFM Radio/Magic 1170 North East Real Radio (North West) - (was Century Radio) North West Key 103/Magic 1152 (Manchester) North West Radio City 96.7/Magic 1548 North West 97.4 Rock FM/Magic 999 North West Clyde 1 FM Scotland ForthOne Scotland First Radio Scotland Scotland Real Radio (Scotland) Scotland Heart Kent South & South East Heart Solent South & South East Heart Sussex South & South East Heart Devon South West Red Dragon Wales & West Real Radio (Wales) Wales & West First Radio Wales Wales & West Galaxy Yorkshire Yorkshire Real Radio (Yorkshire) Yorkshire 96.3 Radio Aire/Magic 828 Yorkshire Hallam FM/Magic AM Yorkshire Colourful FM London Sabras Midlands Sunrise Bradford Yorkshire Spectrum Radio London Our digital banner advertising in Great Britain ran across a wide range of websites, primarily regional newspaper sites across the UK, national newspaper sites and local information sites. All sites used are listed below: fish4.co.uk readingchronicle.co.uk moneysupermarket.com salisburyjournal.co.uk radiotimes.com sheffieldforum.co.uk aboutmyplace.co.uk southportforums.com accuweather.com northamptonchron.co.uk localmole.co.uk nottinghamcity.gov.uk mylocalservices.co.uk oxfordmail.co.uk nestoria.co.uk peterboroughtoday.co.uk timeout.com readingchronicle.co.uk upmystreet.com salisburyjournal.co.uk vivastreet.co.uk sheffieldforum.co.uk wherecanwego.com southportforums.com dailymail.co.uk sunderlandecho.com express.co.uk suttonguardian.co.uk guardian.co.uk theboltonnews.co.uk independent.co.uk thenorthernecho.co.uk mirror.co.uk thestar.co.uk newsoftheworld.co.uk thisisbath.co.uk telegraph.co.uk thisisbristol.co.uk thesun.co.uk thisiscornwall.co.uk timesonline.co.uk thisisderbyshire.co.uk basingstokegazette.co.uk thisisexeter.co.uk birminghammail.net thisisgloucestershire.co.uk birminghampost.net thisisgrimsby.co.uk blackpoolgazette.co.uk thisishullandeastriding.co.uk bournemouthecho.co.uk thisiskent.co.uk britishpapers.co.uk thisisleicestershire.co.uk bucksfreepress.co.uk thisislincolnshire.co.uk chesterchronicle.co.uk thisislocallondon.co.uk chroniclelive.co.uk thisislondon.co.uk coventrytelegraph.net thisisnottingham.co.uk crewechronicle.co.uk thisisoxfordshire.co.uk dailyecho.co.uk thisisplymouth.co.uk examiner.co.uk thisisscunthorpe.co.uk gazettelive.co.uk thisisstaffordshire.co.uk guardian-series.co.uk thisistotalessex.co.uk halifaxcourier.co.uk thisiswiltshire.co.uk heraldseries.co.uk times-series.co.uk hounslowchronicle.co.uk watfordobserver.co.uk leedsonline.co.uk wiltshiretimes.co.uk lep.co.uk worcesternews.co.uk liverpooldailypost.co.uk yorkpress.co.uk liverpoolecho.co.uk yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk londononline.co.uk yorkshirepost.co.uk northamptonchron.co.uk southwalesargus.co.uk nottinghamcity.gov.uk thisissouthwales.co.uk oxfordmail.co.uk walesonline.co.uk peterboroughtoday.co.uk In addition to this we ran Google paid-for search advertising. Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland we used local agency Lyle Bailie. Our budget for Northern Ireland media was £140,000. As in Great Britain we advertised on TV, radio and digital display. We also ran press and outdoor advertising. Our TV advertising was on UTV, Channel 4 and ITV. Our outdoor advertising was on 6 sheets, buses and phone kiosks in Northern Ireland. We do not have a full list of advertising media that was used for digital, press or radio. I trust that this information satisfies your request. The Commission strives to be an open, transparent authority. If you are not satisfied with this response, please note that the Commission operates a review procedure, details of which can be found on the Commission website at: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/about-us/freedom-of-information- requests/how-do-I-make-an-foi-request Please also note that if you have exhausted all internal Commission review procedures and you are still not satisfied you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. Details of this procedure can be found on the ICO website: http://www.ico.gov.uk Yours sincerely

Information Officer The Electoral Commission 3 Bunhill Row London EC1Y 8YZ Tel: www.electoralcommission.org.uk Putting voters first You can now register to vote online Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Read our Blog P Please consider the environment before printing this email