The Communication Commission’s analysis of free and paid political advertising during the 2020 Georgian parliamentary elections showed that broadcasters allocated almost 30,000 minutes in combined air time to free political advertising. In proportion to the cost of paid advertising during the same period of time, the total value of the aforementioned free adverts was approximately GEL 62.5 million. As for paid political advertising, information supplied by the broadcasters showed that their total revenues from paid political adverts amounted to GEL 13.9 million. During the pre-election period, broadcasters allocated 9,620 minutes to paid advertising, which is three times less than the figure for free advertising.

The allocation of free political advertising by channel was as follows:

First Channel of Georgian Public Broadcaster allocated 15% of total advertising time to free political advertising. According to the list of tariffs published by the broadcaster, the average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,350. Thus, First Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 6.1 million in total.

Adjara TV of the Georgian Public Broadcaster allocated 8.7% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,235. Thus, Adjara TV of the Georgian Public Broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 3.2 million in total.

Mtavari Arkhi allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 5,583. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 13.5 million in total.

TV Pirveli allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,978. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 10.2 million in total.

Teleimedi allocated 8.3% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,902. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 9.7 million in total.

Rustavi 2 allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,672. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 9.5 million in total.

Formula allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,787. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 4.6 million in total.

Studio Maestro allocated 8.4% of total advertising time to free political advertising. According to the list of tariffs published by the broadcaster, the average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 914. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 2.3 million in total.

Pos TV allocated 9.2% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 593. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 1.6 million in total.

Palitra TV allocated 5.9% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 395. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 700,000 in total.

Euronews Georgia allocated 1.2% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 888. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 310,000 in total.

Obiektivi allocated 4.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 60. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 82,000 in total.

Other broadcasters allocated 4.8% of their combined total advertising time to free political advertising worth approximately GEL 615,000 in total.

According to Article 50.1 of the Election Code of Georgia, a broadcast license holder, an authorised over-the-air broadcaster, the Public Broadcaster and Adjara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster must, if airtime is allotted for pre-election campaigning and political advertising, publicly announce and weekly submit to the GNCC the following information: from and until what date and at what intervals the airtime is allotted, its duration and schedule of the allotted airtime during one day, and service provided. The analysis of free and paid political advertising during the 2020 Georgian parliamentary elections is based on the aforementioned information submitted by the broadcasters. The market values of free political adverts were determined by assigning the same values to the adverts as those determined by the broadcasters themselves in the relevant programmes.