战舰世界弗林特售价:China Bans Commercials During TV Dramas

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China Bans Ads in TV Dramas

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BEIJING—China's regulators will ban advertising during television dramas, dealing a blow to marketers who have ramped up ad spending to reach the nation's growing consumer class.

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television on Monday issued new rules restricting commercials from interrupting TV dramas, allowing them to air only back-to-back between programs. It said the new restrictions, which will go into effect at the beginning of next year, are intended to spur broadcasters to show more cultural programming, helping them to uphold a "public service."

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While the ban could cheer couch potatoes, experts say pushing commercials to the end of dramas will ultimately hurt marketers. Earlier this month, both foreign and domestic companies paid a record 14.26 billion yuan, or about $2.25 billion, for the rights to advertise next year on the country's largest network, China Central Television. Volkswagen AG, for example, pledged $45.6 million in the auction, according to Chinese advertising agency Charm Communications.

"The efficacy of TV advertisement during these shows will be lost," said Zhou Wei, chief financial officer of Charm Communications, adding that lumping commercials together will train consumers to anticipate a block of time that they can tune out or turn off the TV before the next program starts.

The Chinese regulatory agency, known as Sarft, didn't respond to requests for comment. Broadcast TV is a mouthpiece for the Communist Party and "has a duty to provide a cultural service to the public," Sarft said in its statement.

The ban marks the latest restriction on China's media by central government officials, who have tightened control over television and the nation's voluble Internet culture in recent months amid a broad cultural clean-up campaign. Last month, regulators reduced the number of entertainment programs to nine per night, down from 17, across 34 channels nationwide in an effort to stamp out "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste."

China isn't alone in its pursuit against ads. In 2008, French president Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a similar initiative to ban ads on public network France Télévisions, following the model of Britain's British Broadcasting Corp. But in 2010, Mr. Sarkozy, facing resistance from businesses, dropped the effort.

South Korean dramas run uninterrupted on broadcast stations.

Dramas are among the most popular shows on Chinese television and, airing during prime time, attract some of the highest advertising revenue. Because broadcasters are leery of violating government restrictions on hot-button political issues, China's dramas typically steer away from subjects like crime and social tensions and often focus on love stories or period sagas.

Shifting the ads away from a TV show's runtime reduces the value of that time, and many marketers will look to pull out or renegotiate with networks, media experts say. Much of the $2.25 billion advertisers spent on the CCTV auction, for example, includes drama programming, media experts say. CCTV doesn't disclose the exact amount of advertising dedicated to dramas.

Pulling ads out of them may send many advertisers to look for alternative placements, such as the Web, for their ads, said Mr. Zhou. While the Internet is popular with Chinese consumers, television remains the single most effective way for companies to reach the broadest number of eyes, according to WPP PLC's ad-buying unit GroupM.

Media experts say that the government is aiming to tighten its political control of ideology through TV and that decreasing profitability will hurt popular satellite networks that have attracted wide audiences with hit shows, such as reality-dating show "If You Are the One." Such broadcasters have given CCTV, the government's main TV broadcaster, increasing competition as well.

—Yoli Zhang contributed to this article.

Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to British Broadcasting Co. instead of British Broadcasting Corp.

Write to Laurie Burkitt at laurie.burkitt@wsj.com