Crash in Advertising Revenue in Regional Media

When discussing the real independence, self-sufficient editorial policies, and responsible positioning of companies providing audiovisual services to the public, we always come back to the question of where to find adequate funding. This is reported by media.am.

Of course, money alone (investments, advertising revenues, grants, etc.) is not enough to talk about independent and quality media, but it is a prerequisite that allows audiovisual media service providers or those making such services accessible to calculate their resources and not rely on shadowy, "dark" financial sources, which can influence the content. Alternatively, one might continue their activities without a long-term development strategy, hoping that something will happen automatically.

The revenue declarations submitted to the Television and Radio Commission by companies operating under that body indicate the serious financial crisis, particularly among regional television companies. The revenue of licensed and authorized companies with terrestrial broadcasting and radio transmission, including network operators and internet service providers, amounted to approximately 57 billion drams in 2023. (Public broadcaster revenues, which include an annually approved 8 billion drams from the state budget as well as advertising and other non-budgetary income, are not reflected in these figures).

Moreover, a large portion of the revenue pie belongs to the 59 companies providing services of network operators and internet connections. In other words, the revenue goes primarily to those packaging and rebroadcasting media content, rather than to the creators of the content itself. In fact, their revenue amounted to 49 billion drams in 2023.

And although many network operators provide not only audiovisual content broadcasting but also internet services (in the declarations, these are not separated), it remains the case that a huge percentage of the entire media field's revenue goes to intermediaries and connection providers rather than to the actual content authors.

If we subtract that 49 billion drams from the declared annual revenue of 57 billion drams, we can consider the remaining 8 billion drams as the total circulation of media content. This 8 billion drams is distributed approximately as follows (again not counting the public broadcaster):

• Republican broadcasting television companies: about 4.5 billion drams,
• Publicly broadcast radio companies: about 1 billion drams,
• Authorized 23 companies: about 1 billion drams,
• Capital broadcasting television companies: about 816 million drams,
• Regional broadcasting television companies: about 383 million drams.

Nine authorized television companies provide audiovisual services in the regions of Armenia. Their combined revenue in 2023 amounted to a mere 383 million drams. Of course, the decrease in revenue has several reasons. The primary one is the reduction in advertising income, which is especially striking in regional media. This graphic clearly shows how dramatically advertising income has plummeted in recent years. It is in free fall.

The existence of many regional television companies is itself under question. It is a case of irony: they do not have money to create content. Without content, they have nothing to earn money from.

Some monetary investments in regional television companies are provided by international grants and local business structures. But this does not have a systemic nature that allows for the discussion of long-term development relying solely on the strengths or connections of the regions.

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