Broadcasting revenues are stable and have not decreased as claimed by the Forbes magazine and the bm.ge agency in the article titled “Television Revenues Have Fallen.” The 2018 data about broadcasting revenues that was published by the Communications Commission was reproduced with errors by the aforementioned media sources. The Commission has contacted the media organisations and asked for the errors to be corrected, but this has not yet happened. We must therefore inform the public once again about the broadcasting revenue data for 2018.

The first gross error made by the publication was to include non-broadcasting revenues in the television revenue figures. Thus, revenues from activities such as the sale of equipment and furniture were included in the broadcasting revenue figures. The sale of such inventory is not linked with broadcasting figures. The Communications Commission clearly differentiates between various revenue types on its website and lists non-broadcasting revenues in a separate field. Unfortunately, the publication failed to inform its readers that it was reporting figures that included non-broadcasting revenues. It should also be pointed out that the Commission employs the same principle for counting revenues as the European countries.  

Secondly, the article states that “in 2018, Georgian television channels collected revenues totalling GEL 137.2 million, which is GEL 9.4 million less than in 2017.” These figures are wrong, as they include non-broadcasting revenues. In reality, television broadcasters collected revenues totalling GEL 135,650,527.06 in 2018, which exceeded the figure from previous year by GEL 7,661,663.13. The article and its headline claim that television revenues have fallen, yet they use non-broadcasting revenues to support this claim. Naturally, the publication was free to use these figures, but not in a way that misleadingly presents non-broadcasting revenues as television revenues. 

Thirdly, the article claims that television revenues have decreased by GEL 16.9 million. As in previous cases, this figure is false, as it takes into account the amount of GEL 16 million in non-broadcasting revenues obtained by the television company GDS from the sale of equipment.  

Furthermore, the article states that “with regards to revenues from sponsorship and advertising, Georgian television channels collected revenues totalling GEL 67.2 million, which is GEL 1.9 million below the 2019 figure.” In this case, we have to ask why, if the publication was aiming to analyse the advertising market and the relevant revenue figures, it only focused on two components of advertising revenues even though advertising includes commercials, sponsorship, product placement, announcements and teleshopping. Based on international practice and in accordance with the EU directive, advertising revenues take into account all of the aforementioned components.  

In reality, broadcasters collected a total of GEL 75,262,955.32 in advertising revenues in 2018, compared to GEL 75,421,094.65 in 2017. Thus, advertising revenue figures have remained virtually the same, the difference between them being merely 0.2%.

Based on the above, we reiterate that the figures published by Forbes were wrong. Total broadcasting revenues increased by GEL 7,661,663.13 in 2018, while advertising revenue figures remained virtually the same. Therefore, the headline and content of the article do not reflect reality. Taking all parameters into account, it is evident that the situation on the broadcasting market remained stable in 2018, and there was no fall in revenues.  

Based on the analysis of broadcasting revenue figures, the Commission can confidently state that the broadcasting market is stable. In fact, television advertising revenues during the first quarter of 2019 increased by 8% year-on-year. The revenue figure for Q1 was GEL 12,686,428.19, compared to GEL 11,789,995.20 during the same period in 2018. We would also like to point out that the television advertising market is stable and not shrinking. Recent studies reveal similar trends in other European countries. As digital media evolves on a daily basis, advertising money is flowing from traditional media to new media. The Commission is encouraging broadcasters to keep up with the new challenges and develop digital platforms.