RTL Belgium is the first French-speaking television group to launch a uniform model for television advertising, it announced on Monday. From now on, viewers subscribed to Telenet will have to watch a one-minute non-skippable advertising screen at the start of any recorded program. And this is only a first step, other TV channels and other telecom operators should follow soon.
Avoid the consumer skipping
This advertising practice is inspired by what viewers already experience today on online video platforms. Its goal is to prevent consumers from skipping advertisements, a behavior which has a direct impact on advertising revenues and therefore on the local production of television content, largely financed by this revenue, underlines RTL.
“Taking into account these new consumption patterns and the importance of maintaining quality productions, Belgian market players wanted to set up a uniform model for television advertising,” explains the television group, owner of the RTL channels. tvi, RTL club and RTL plug.
A first step
As soon as the new advertising model is activated on their decoder, Telenet customers will receive free TV Replay for 7 days, included in their TV subscription. They will also not be able to ignore advertising in the replay program. The content of the program may be accelerated, but not the advertising spaces.
This is a first step, insists RTL, and “all other market players support the model and are considering its implementation”. In a later phase, “all French-speaking television channels” will also follow, indicates the private media group.
In Flanders, the private media groups DPG and Play Media implemented this practice in 2021, first via Telenet then via Proximus.
