The number of television advertisements of Hungarian products continues to be low

Published: 19 March 2020

According to a new study approved at the last session of the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), only 3.5 per cent of new TV spots advertise Hungarian products or services. A fine has been imposed on the operator of RTL Klub for publishing a non-compliant sponsorship message. Pursuant to its new rules of procedure, the Media Council may also hold its meetings via video conferences.

Despite a certain increase, the proportion of advertisements of Hungarian products and services continues to be extremely low

The Media Council has approved the study on new advertising spots aired by television channels in the second half of 2019. The authority examined the programme offering of 34 television channels, with 2,806 types of new ads—accounting for 49 per cent of the spots—being rerun 1.5 million times. There was no significant difference compared to the figures of the same period of 2018, when 2,798 types of new ads were run 1.4 million times, which accounted for 47 per cent of the aired advertisements. However, compared to 2018, there was an increase in the average number of advertising spots per television channel (an increase of nearly 9 per cent to 90,934), of new spots per television channel (an increase of 12 per cent to 44,556) and of the reruns of new spots (an increase of nearly 9 per cent to 540). As previously, most new commercials were broadcast by general entertainment channels such as AXN, Comedy Central, Cool TV or Viasat 3. As in the case of the analyses of previous years, advertising spots specifically promoting Hungarian products and services were represented with extremely low case numbers (3.5 per cent), although their proportion stopped decreasing, since in the same period of 2018 this number was 2.9 per cent. The study will be available in its entirety on the NMHH website.

Decisions concerning media surveillance and radio tenders

The Media Council imposed a fine of HUF 750 thousand on the operator of RTL Klub, as last December one of the broadcasts of the programme Lifestyle presented the product of one of the programme’s sponsors, a Hungarian company dealing with the treatment of hair loss and baldness, in an excessively detailed form, encouraging viewers to buy the product. The board imposed a fine of HUF 90 thousand on the operator of Balaton Televízió as last November one of the broadcasts of the programme Programajánló aired a sponsorship message of one of the programme’s sponsors, a clothes shop, which contained information equivalent to an advertisement (name and address of the shop, how to get there, etc.), thus viewers could regard the information equivalent to an advertisement as part of the sponsorship message, which is contrary to the prohibition of implied commercial announcements. When imposing a fine, the Media Council always determines the form and extent of the sanctions with due consideration to all the circumstances of the specific case and employing the principles of progressiveness and proportionality.

After the formal review of the bids submitted for the Törökszentmiklós 96.4 MHz local community radio frequency tender procedure, the Media Council registered the Magyar Katolikus Rádió Alapítvány as bidder. The board adopted the draft invitation to tender for the community use of the Miskolc 90.4 MHz regional frequency as well as the invitations to tender for the prospective use of small-community radio media service opportunities for the sites in Szentendre and Gyomaendrőd. At the request of the media service provider of Mária Rádió, the Media Council authorised the extension of its media service provision rights regarding the Szombathely 88.4 MHz frequency with the rights regarding Celldömölk 92.5 MHz and Sárvár 95.2 MHz.

The Media Council has amended its rules of procedure, allowing the board to hold its meetings via video conferences.