The advertising that reaches telenovelas

How to have
a profitable
day time

n Argentina, telenovelas have turned the afternoon slot in a second prime time. Experts in the subject, have had an exclusive interview with this magazine about the investment in advertising that channels reach at this slot. Having two prime times is not an easy task, but it is an easy dream to achieve.
Telenovelas are going through their best moment in the Argentinean screen. In the open TV channels’ programming schedule there are nineteen telenovelas –Argentinean and foreign ones– three sit-coms and three serial programs. Fiction is there to take the place that realities and talk shows had robbed from them.

	Julián Légora

“It is not usual, but nowadays telenovelas are working so well that during midday there is a second prime time. And that is very important for the channel,” states Julián Légora, Marketing leader at Telefe, when referring to the success achieved by Amor en custodia, Pasión de gavilanes and El color del pecado, that from Monday to Friday are averaging between 22 and 24 rating points.
This tendency has generated that the advertising reached by channels in the telenovelas slots is a lot more significant than it was years ago.
“If we consider the performance of telenovelas at a rating level today, the prices are low. In the afternoon, we would have to have almost the same prices as at night, but it would be anti-commercial to put them up, as we would be reducing buying options for the clients,” explains Francisco D’Almonte, in charge of advertising sales at Telefe.
In general the afternoons are used to compensate the high values at night, and clients that advertise during telenovelas also advertise during other products of a schedule that allows them to extend their coverage and have a different audience.
Although cleaning products and food have always been the leaders of the slot, telenovelas are working so well that other kinds of products are advertising too.

	Francisco D’Almonte

“There are laboratories that have a lot of products of which the purchasing decision belongs to the women. So the client might want to appear at night time, but in the afternoon, the product reaches the right person and the value of the second is cheaper,” said D’Almonte, and he adds that considering the decay of the Argentinean economy, the client had to optimize resources and the purchase of advertising time changed from quality to quantity, which is changing back at present.
 


The value is not only in rating
Apart from the rating value, media planners, take into account other variables, such as the coverage of a company or the frequency. They analyze the programming schedules, the purchase of the client, and the purchase he should do to be worth the money and get to the same target. For Légora, the clients know that what is important is not to place the product in the most successful program, but that it is watched by the most and varied people.
According to Valeria Vitale, from the marketing department of RGB Entertainment, which produces together with Cris Morena Group, the comedies Floricienta and Amor mío, fiction generates a very important loyalty on the part of the audience, what does not happen in other formats, and that, at lot-of-commercials level, allows interesting things such as the fact of having captive people, making brand names want to advertise there, no matter how much success the genre has.
Vitale points out that the telenovela audience is a lot wider than before, when only housewives who were all day at home watched the love story. "Today telenovelas are custom-made productions for the family, teenagers and adults, and each one finds its own place. That is very positive because it allows to work by segments.”
 
Why do clients look for fiction?
Analía Romero, from media central MIX, said that in order to advertise on open channels, her clients generally look for fiction.
Pablo Márquez, from the marketing department of Ideas del Sur said: "In order for fiction programs to be shown, not only is essential to have a great number of commercials but also non-traditional advertising.”
Telefe’s policy regarding this is very clear. “For us, non-traditional advertising is a complement that has to be very well done so it does not spoil the artistic side of the program,” pointed out D’Almonte. "We have a department that works only with non-traditional advertising, and if it cannot be placed, it does not appear. That is why its value in comparison to other channels is high. As there are not many, the product is always seen, remembered and taken care of,” she concludes.

	Valeria Vitale

For Légora, non-traditional advertising is very well taken care of because it spoils both for the Argentinean viewers and the international sale, which is a very important part for them.
For Vitale, the main brand names look for non-traditional advertising because it gives them an added value highlighting the name in the everyday life of the characters.
As a sales strategy, D’Almonte explains that what they try to do is to involve the client from the beginning, with their participation in the program with non-traditional advertising.
“Telefe’s forte is that most of their programs have famous stars and the pre-sale has to do with the clients trust because we can estimate it, but we don’t know how much the telenovela will measure. After the first week, we have a target opening, when IBOPE sends us the breakdown of homes and since then the planner knows who is watching the program with the specific targets,” explains D’Almonte.
On the other hand, the telenovela has adapted its contents and has learnt how to get to prime time with adult stories that captivate both women and men.
According to Vitale, this is due to the fact that people are more permeable to consume this kind of fiction: “Putting telenovelas at primer time has made a big change on the screen, and today you can watch fiction from 7 to 11pm. Even those who initially made their bets did not think that this formula would work out so well.”
For D’Almonte, the change in social behavior makes what before was almost impossible to sell, as the 11 pm slot, today prime time.
“Another important factor of why this slot in the middle of the day is profitable –says Silvana D’Angelo– is that foreign telenovelas come in with very low budgets: they are very cheap and this is good for the programmer. Some have success, others not so much, and others disappear from the screen after a week of starting.” So, having a profitable day time is not only a risk, but also about knowing how to find a quality and low cost product that will become an attraction for the advertisers.