P&G was the top bidder at the 2009 CCTV prime resource auction, spending Rmb 515 million a six per cent increase on its spending in 2008 (Rmb 480 million) and Rmb 420 million in 2007.
Aside from the FMCG giant, this year’s auction was driven by accelerated spending from domestic players in China. United Da Tong Auto Parts secured second place by spending Rmb 313 million, followed by Nice Group spending Rmb305 million.
The result was hailed by CCTV head of advertising Xia Hong Bo (pictured) as an indication that China’s advertising industry was healthy.
“When clients bid at the auction, they are not just bidding for suitable television spots or evaluating the value of the television spots, they are actually evaluating the China market,” Xia told Media.
“This year’s CCTV auction reflects that China is the most stable and has the most potential of all international markets.”
Notably, the global financial crisis has not dampened sentiment in the mainland, with financial and insurance companies continuing to increase their CCTV spending.
The most popular advertising slots were around joint news programmes, including Spring Festival and Chinese New Year specials and CCTV dramas.
Charm Communications was the top media agency handling spend of Rmb 2.37 billion, representing a quarter of the total bidding revenue of Rmb 9.26 billion. The local media agency represented an array of Chinese clients including PICC, Bosideng, China Telecom, Snow Beer, Agricultural Bank of China.
“Charm Communications has used its subsidiary agency, Nanning Junlang, to bid for the 2009 CCTV-5 Sports Channel Telecommunications Service Provider sponsorship, which is supposed to be opened to telecom operators only. It’s believed they will resell to China Telecom, which is their existing client,” one source said.
FMCG, banking and insurance companies were active as expected, but milk brands like Synutra, Mengniu, Yili and first time bidder Dumex were aggressive in a bid to rebuild branding - Dumex snapped up CCTV ad time for Rmb31 million.The majority of bidders were local Chinese companies.
Multinationals were a relative minority with KFC spending Rmb 43 million, Coca-Coca Rmb 29 million, and representatives from Shanghai General Motors and Pepsi showing up for early bird booking.
“It’s never transparent enough, but by our estimates, multinationals represented around 10 per cent of the total investment. A lot have either made their Olympic Games investments, or are under tight control from their global head office,” said Greg Paull, principal of R3.
University of Communications of China’s head of the advertising faculty Huang Sheng-min pointed out that domestic companies would be keen to support next year’s 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. “With the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many SME companies in the mainland may think they are not big enough to compete with the big Olympic sponsors,” said Huang. “Instead, they increase their investment in 2009.”
This year’s CCTV airtime auction time bidding event was the last one to be held in the old CCTV Media Centre building before it will move to the new CCTV headquarters next year.
Xia added that CCTV’s challenges going forward would be mostly internal.
“Our operational system should be more market-oriented. We still have huge potential which we have yet to tap into in the future,” he said. “China’s status is getting more and more important internationally. CCTV is expanding its influence in the overseas market.
“We need to capitalise on this expansion, as it will have a strong impact in strengthening the CCTV advertising department.”
Aside from the FMCG giant, this year’s auction was driven by accelerated spending from domestic players in China. United Da Tong Auto Parts secured second place by spending Rmb 313 million, followed by Nice Group spending Rmb305 million.
The result was hailed by CCTV head of advertising Xia Hong Bo (pictured) as an indication that China’s advertising industry was healthy.
“When clients bid at the auction, they are not just bidding for suitable television spots or evaluating the value of the television spots, they are actually evaluating the China market,” Xia told Media.
“This year’s CCTV auction reflects that China is the most stable and has the most potential of all international markets.”
Notably, the global financial crisis has not dampened sentiment in the mainland, with financial and insurance companies continuing to increase their CCTV spending.
The most popular advertising slots were around joint news programmes, including Spring Festival and Chinese New Year specials and CCTV dramas.
Charm Communications was the top media agency handling spend of Rmb 2.37 billion, representing a quarter of the total bidding revenue of Rmb 9.26 billion. The local media agency represented an array of Chinese clients including PICC, Bosideng, China Telecom, Snow Beer, Agricultural Bank of China.
“Charm Communications has used its subsidiary agency, Nanning Junlang, to bid for the 2009 CCTV-5 Sports Channel Telecommunications Service Provider sponsorship, which is supposed to be opened to telecom operators only. It’s believed they will resell to China Telecom, which is their existing client,” one source said.
FMCG, banking and insurance companies were active as expected, but milk brands like Synutra, Mengniu, Yili and first time bidder Dumex were aggressive in a bid to rebuild branding - Dumex snapped up CCTV ad time for Rmb31 million.The majority of bidders were local Chinese companies.
Multinationals were a relative minority with KFC spending Rmb 43 million, Coca-Coca Rmb 29 million, and representatives from Shanghai General Motors and Pepsi showing up for early bird booking.
“It’s never transparent enough, but by our estimates, multinationals represented around 10 per cent of the total investment. A lot have either made their Olympic Games investments, or are under tight control from their global head office,” said Greg Paull, principal of R3.
University of Communications of China’s head of the advertising faculty Huang Sheng-min pointed out that domestic companies would be keen to support next year’s 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. “With the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many SME companies in the mainland may think they are not big enough to compete with the big Olympic sponsors,” said Huang. “Instead, they increase their investment in 2009.”
This year’s CCTV airtime auction time bidding event was the last one to be held in the old CCTV Media Centre building before it will move to the new CCTV headquarters next year.
Xia added that CCTV’s challenges going forward would be mostly internal.
“Our operational system should be more market-oriented. We still have huge potential which we have yet to tap into in the future,” he said. “China’s status is getting more and more important internationally. CCTV is expanding its influence in the overseas market.
“We need to capitalise on this expansion, as it will have a strong impact in strengthening the CCTV advertising department.”
