How much of advertising should there really be on television? Are there any international norms for the same? How do Indian TV stations fare in such a comparison with TV channels abroad? These were some of the questions that we, at ADEX India, tried to answer. In this context, we looked at the year 2003 to evaluate just how critical this issue really is.

Let's first take a look at some international norms, before we evaluate Indian channels.
.The ABA (Australian Broadcasting Authority) reportedly recommends 10 minutes of advertising per hour of children's programming and up to 15 minutes for non-prime time programs.
.The National association of Philippines broadcasters, the KBP, as per its TV code of conduct stipulates a commercial load for television in Metro Manila to 18 minutes per hour, while for provincial TV stations, commercial load permissible is a maximum of 20 minutes per program hour.
.A new regulation introduced in China, from 1 January 2004, sets limits on the total length of ads allowed between 7 pm to 9 pm to a maximum of nine minutes per hour of programming
.In Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), recommends eight minutes of advertising per hour during children's programming compared to twelve minutes of advertising per hour during regular programming
.In a couple of other far-eastern economies, the stipulation is eight minutes of advertising time and two minutes of program promo time, that is, a total of 10 minutes of break duration

With these kinds of trends emerging across various countries, the average duration/ hour of pure advertising time (not containing any promo durations), in India, should produce a sigh of relief for most broadcasters. That's because, the practices in India are pretty much in line with the international norms. When we look at an all-channels average advertising time, it amounts to only 192 seconds of pure advertising time per hour for the year of 2003. That is a meager three minutes of advertising time per hour of programming... almost one-third the International norms!!!

Even if we divide all channels into DD channels, pay channels and free to air- FTA channels: it is quite clear that the average ad durations per hour for all the three sets are well below the 9 to 10 minute mark set in International markets! Its only one minute 42 seconds for DD stations, three minutes 39 seconds for FTA channels and three minutes 28 seconds for pay channels!