“Transparency International Georgia” publishes a traditional report on TV advertising market review. In 2023, compared to the previous year, the total advertising revenue of broadcasters increased by 18.8% (15.1 million GEL) and became 95 million GEL. TV station advertising revenues increased mainly because of pro-government broadcasters.
Dynamics of total advertising revenues of television stations:
Compared to 2022, in 2023, the revenues received directly from commercial advertising by TV stations increased by 18.6% (13.7 million GEL) and became 87.4 million GEL. The increase in advertising revenues was preceded by a 7.8% (almost 10 million GEL) decrease in the television advertising market due to restricting television advertising of gambling games from the II quarter of 2022. In 2023, compared to 2021, the television advertising market increased by only 4.3 million GEL - by 5.3%.
TV station advertising revenues increased mainly because of pro-government broadcasters (Imedi, Media Holding, POSTV). In addition, their total advertisingincome is 3.1 times (57.1 million GEL) higher than the total advertising income of television stations critical of the government (18.4 million GEL).
In contrast to the pro-government television stations, the advertising revenue of the three most critical broadcasters (Mtavari Arkhi, Formula, and TV Pirveli) decreased. Compared to the year 2022, the advertising income of the TV company Mtavari Arkhi decreased the most - by 2.1 million GEL.
Advertising expenses of political parties: In 2023, political parties spent a total of 1.14 million GEL on advertising, of which only 45,529 GEL (up to 4%) went to television advertising. Similar to 2022, in 2023, more than half of the political advertising - 631.1 thousand GEL – was placed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, and the rest of the money was distributed among 12 parties.
In 2023, broadcasters placed a total of 1.6 million GEL social advertisements. The most significant part, 861.3 thousand GEL, and 608.4 thousand GEL, were received by the pro-government broadcasters Media Holding (Rustavi 2) and POSTV.
Pro-government televisions lead the way with large (50,000+ GEL) advertising orders. For example, in 2023, 216 such advertisements were placed on Imedi TV and 109 on Media Holding.
In 2023, budgetary organizations benefited from a total of 206 different types of services from 28 broadcasters. In 127 cases, pro-government TV broadcasters provided services.
Research has shown that the expenses of the highest-grossing television stations are 2 times, and in some cases even 3 times, their revenues.
Compared to national coverage broadcasters, regional television stations’ total and advertising revenues are even smaller. For example, in 2023, one of the most profitable regional broadcasters, Odishi TV Company, received only 240,013.63 GEL.
As for radio broadcasters, their income in 2023 was 7.6 million GEL, 21% higher than in 2022. More than 90% of the revenues of radio broadcasters came from direct advertising and more than 9% - from sponsorship.
Transparency International Georgia observes the advertising market on an annual basis.
