Though in general European TV channels are locked in what Screen Digest calls a “downward spiral of economic slowdown, advertising recession, deflated prices and audience fragmentation”, the high-end business networks are showing much more confidence.
CNBC Europe chief Mick Buckley tells The Indie: “There is no sign of any slowdown. Advertisers in the Middle East are not having a hard time at the moment. So it is not like previous recessions where everyone stops spending and nobody loses brand share. If a Western airline stops spending (on advertising) now, an airline in an emerging part of the world will take their market share.” Amid that global outlook, the channel is dropping the “Europe” from its name.
Not just CNBC, but CNN International, too, reckons it has the heft to stay profitable even the west’s downturn. Ad sales EVP Jonathan Davies: “We are not tied into the fortunes of any one market. There are opportunities for us which there probably aren’t for the ITVs of this world. The Middle East, China and India are all booming markets.”