• President of UOKiK has closed preliminary proceedings into discounts used by media brokers in the television advertising market.
• The Authority’s analysis did not reveal that the entrepreneurs were engaged in competition-restricting practices.

The terminated proceedings concerned discounts applied by media brokers, i.e. entities engaged in reselling advertising time acquired from TV stations to media houses. In Poland, Polsat Media, TVN Media and the TVP Advertising Bureau operate in this market. They provide services both to businesses in their group and to other broadcasters.

The investigation mainly examined progressive-volume discounts (also known as “AVB” - Agency Volume Bonus, or so-called kick-back). In the course of the proceedings, they were understood as remuneration paid to a media house or advertiser by the entity offering media space. This discount represents a bonus for achieving a sales target or other contractual arrangements during a given period.

The President of UOKiK has investigated whether progressive-volume discounts distort media houses’ decisions on the allocation of TV advertising budgets and thus may induce them to concentrate orders or spending with specific brokers. However, the analysis conducted did not show such trends. When selecting a broker, media houses are guided by the media fit between the campaign’s needs and the client’s target audience. It was also determined that there were no significant barriers in the market that would prevent broadcasters from changing brokers.

– The purpose of the investigation was to verify whether the discounts used by these entities could contribute to closing the market for brokerage services in the field of selling television advertising. We have thoroughly analysed the market standing and we see that kick-backs are now a kind of a standard used by market participants which does not limit competition between entrepreneurs – says President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

The investigation into the TV commercial has been terminated. However, the President of UOKiK does not rule out a future analysis of discount systems used in other segments of the advertising market, including digital, print and radio.

The Whistleblower Programme

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