ASA bailout nears

Johannesburg - There may be a last-minute bailout for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which is facing a funding crisis. The ASA has agreed to re-submit a budget pared down to the bare minimum, and the Levy Collection Agency (LCA) will re-examine the possibility of a rescue package. Finality could come within two weeks.

"The good thing to come out of it is that the stakeholders are absolutely committed to keeping the ASA going," says Odette Roper, CEO of the ad industry body, the Association for Communications and Advertising. "If necessary, we will ask Print Media SA to make a contribution."

The ASA, seen as the conscience of the ad industry, is funded from a small share of the 1% levy collected primarily to finance the media research programme of the SA Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF). Its products - including the All-Media and Products Survey (AMPS) - are the bibles of media buying and planning.

The problem is that as adspend declines due to the recession, so does the amount collected from the levy. This year SAARF was allocated R80m and the ASA R6.5m. But the ASA, which will run out of money by the end of October, says it is not enough.

Although the 2009 allocations have been made, Les Holley, who runs the LCA, says: "We still have a little bit to play with. But any additional allocation will have to be approved by our stakeholders."

There is a likelihood that the levy will have to be increased to meet the greater costs of surveying an increasingly fragmented television environment.

Some media analysts believe a doubling of the levy may be needed - though it will be difficult to get agreement on this from the fractious media and marketing community. If it does agree on a rise, however, the ASA would probably benefit as well.

- Fin24.com