Advertisers in france have to prepare for a tv revolution, with ad-free public service broadcasts and digital tv. Adrian Pennington reports.

France’s new president was elected promising dynamism and radical solutions, and the media market is not immune to his vision.

One of Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans is to guillotine all advertisements on the nation’s public TV network France Télévisions. The proposal would be “a cultural revolution in the public television service,” said Sarkozy, who aims to boost the quality of state programming as part of a renaissance of its culture.

It caught the country’s media completely by surprise and the resulting furore has still to die down. Although the ban will be phased in from 2009, the details of its implementation are unclear.

Scrapping ads from state TV would mean €800m in revenue transferring to private stations M6 and TF1. Those private broadcasters will then be taxed as would internet access and mobile communications to provide the required subsidy.

“Everyone was caught out,” says Dominique Delport, chief executive of Havas Media. “Fifteen per cent of advertisers just use public TV, so for them it’s a big bang. Also public TV tends to attract an older audience, which will now be more expensive to find.”

It’s unlikely that advertising will be banned entirely. “It could be that some minutes will be kept on some channels in some day parts or that sponsorship will be allowed,” says Delport. “We don’t yet know and it has thrown media plans up in the air.”

A survey conducted by Aegis Media France, confirms the doubts about the reshaped market. A poll of 87 advertisers revealed that 76% of them are worried about a possible rise in ad fees and two out of three fear their campaigns could perform less well.

Advertisers are concerned that the move puts a near monopoly of ad sales in the hands of a few pay- TV operators. “France already suffers from a lack of advertising space and severe restrictions that don’t hinder any other comparative market,” says Raphaël de Andreis, president of BETC Euro RSCG.

The industry is lobbying to deregulate TV airtime, which is currently restricted to 10% per broadcast hour, and to allow greater product placement. Existing legislation outlaws TV ads for alcohol, gambling and pharmaceuticals among other sectors. Last year’s rescinding of a decade’s old law, which prevented retailers from advertising on TV, has also increased competition for ad space.

Although advertisers are encouraged by the rapid growth of digital terrestrial service TNT, which helped propel TV growth to 3.5% last year, in contrast with print which declined and static rates for radio, cinema and outdoor.

“Only two years ago 75% of the French audience had six channels, but by digital switchover in 2011 every household will get 18,” says Delport.

It is the internet that stands most to gain from this revolution. France is the third-largest online market in Europe, behind the UK and Germany. eMarketer estimates that the French online ad market will be worth more than £2bn by 2011.

“Perhaps because they are more exposed to the internet, dailies such as Le Monde, Le Figero and Liberation are the fastest moving on the web,” notes Bruno Schmutz, head of research at ZenithOptimedia France. “Le Monde even registers a higher search score than Google News.”

According to Pascal Grégoire, founder of independent La Chose, the country’s multinational agencies aren’t responding to digital. “The French consumer is famously techno-literate and media owners are eager to move online,” declares Grégoire. “Which is why I don’t understand why agencies are so conservative.”

Recent work by La Chose includes an email campaign to boost awareness of Ikea’s business range and a new web presence for Dutch fashion brand Viktor & Rolf.

“Execs at the large agencies are very snobbish,” adds Grégoire. “They keep their disciplines separate and do not talk to each other. They don’t view digital as creative and make it very difficult to link classical media and new technology. It is both a structural and psychological problem.”

Naturally, Andreis disagrees. “That may have been true two years ago, but all agencies, not just ours, have changed radically. We have 150 staff dedicated to digital including a mobile division.”

He points to “groundbreaking” work for Air France in which SMS messages offering free air miles generated a flash mob and a campaign for eBay.

“We bought slots on TF1 and M6 and auctioned the space on eBay,” he explains. “The airtime was blank for the first week. We then created ads for the highest [individual] bidders across 10 categories and put them on air. The broadcasters were frightened at the beginning because there was no content and no way of knowing what it would be, but it’s been an astonishing success.”

France has a perverse love-hate affair with advertising, suggests Andreis, something that successful brands need to understand.

“The French love shopping, but we are also critical, detached and ready to snub consumption,” he says. “We know every trick and don’t want to be told what to do – especially in commerce. We can’t just enjoy the services and goods we buy: we want what we buy to do something for who we are.”

Leading French brands such as Renault, La Coste or Air France have understood this. And foreign-owned global brands need to understand it as well.

“It’s a paradox that says: ‘I know you’re manipulating me, but give me the illusion of being in control because ultimately I decide,’” says Andreis. “A large scale example? The Sarkozy brand got the French paradox, the rival brand Royal did not.”