Share

Asa crisis looms

accreditation

Johannesburg - An emergency meeting took place on Tuesday about the future of the Advertising Standards Authority (Asa), which faces a possible shutdown at the end of October through lack of funds.

The Asa is funded through a 1% levy on advertising expenditure (other than print), collected mainly to fund media research into audiences for TV, radio, outdoor and other small media, but also to run the Asa, the ad industry's conscience. The print media makes a direct grant.

Because adspend has dropped in response to the recession, less money is collected, and the beneficiaries have to trim their costs.

The SA Advertising Research Foundation (Saarf), which gets about R80m, has been able to do so; the ASA (allocated R6.5m for 2009) insists it needs more.

So far it has survived by drawing on the allocated amount, but there's not enough in the kitty to cover a full year at its current level of expenditure.

Ironically, the Asa could be an accidental beneficiary if the marketing world heeds a call to increase the levy to cope with additional costs of media measurement caused by an expected explosion of new TV channels and fragmentation of audiences in the next five years.

Insiders say the levy needs to be raised to 2% if it is to meet future research needs. The ASA would probably get an increase too.

Unfortunately for the Asa however, no decision on increasing the levy is likely for many months yet.

- Fin24.com

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
19.09
-1.0%
Rand - Pound
24.06
-0.7%
Rand - Euro
20.58
-0.5%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.39
-0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.9%
Platinum
894.64
-0.3%
Palladium
992.99
-0.9%
Gold
2,196.85
+0.1%
Silver
24.44
-0.8%
Brent-ruolie
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
67,964
+0.4%
All Share
74,173
+0.4%
Resource 10
56,465
+1.4%
Industrial 25
103,617
+0.3%
Financial 15
16,480
-0.3%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders