RTE puts up price of ad slots on Late Late Toy Show
From Irish Indo – and don’t buy from RTE, buy from us. It’ll be cheaper!:
RTE is increasing the price it is charging advertisers for slots on this year’s Late Late Tow Show, which will be broadcast on December 6. The station says it is the first time in three years that prices have gone up.
The opening 30-second spot in the first commercial break will cost €95,000, up from €86,125 in 2023. The price includes the same slot in the repeat broadcast, and on the RTE Player, where the station estimates it will get 250,000 impressions.
The charge for being the company that does the ‘one for everyone in the audience’ giveaway has been increased from last year’s €10,000 to €15,000. The sponsor must guarantee to give away 240 “prizes” valued at €150 each, as well as paying the fee.
The Late Late Toy Show has long been a cash cow for the national broadcaster, as it routinely draws the biggest TV audience of the year.
Last year’s show, presented for the first time by Patrick Kielty, was watched by 1.7 million people when streams from the RTE Player were included. The station has told advertisers that the Toy Show got a “record breaking” 550,000 streams on the Player, from 147 countries.
“Streams more than doubled in Northern Ireland,” it said. “There was a 97pc increase on UK RTE Player streams, up from 33,000 in 2022 to 65,0000.”
RTE’s commercial department is hoping to earn at least €700,000 from selling ad packages around this year’s show. It has revamped the packages it offers to businesses, scrapping the old system that included ‘gold’ and ‘premium’ bundles.
This year an advertiser who wants the last 30-second slot in the first commercial break will pay €80,000. Last year the equivalent slot was €66,500.
The second commercial break packages – of which there are two – are priced at €80,000. Slots in the third and fourth commercial breaks, by which time the audience has begun to taper off, are priced at €72,000.
The last ad slot before the show begins is priced at €70,000.
A spokeswoman for RTE said that as a dual funded broadcaster, it is mandated to maximise its commercial revenue to pay for the many public services it provides. Given the reach of the Toy Show, there is huge demand from advertisers for these slots.
“There has been a modest increase in price for the first time in three years, but we believe it offers great value to the market to be part of Ireland’s biggest show. As with all commercial revenue raised, it will be reinvested in RTÉ’s content and services,” the spokeswoman said.
The Toy Show slots are in addition to the support RTE gets from Permanent TSB as the title sponsor of the show. The bank is the second year of a two-year deal with the Late Late Show after it succeeded Renault. Announcing the deal last autumn, RTE said it included an agreement for 730 credited “stings” – short ad clips before and after each commercial break.
The only downside to the Permanent TSB sponsorship is that the RTE commercial team cannot sell any of the prominent Late Late Toy Show slots to another bank, in order to avoid a clash.
Some €36m was raised for the Toy Show Appeal last year, with the proceeds going to children’s charities around Ireland.