Five looks to put pressure on Aegis to end stand-off

by Emma Barnett Media Week 15-Jan-08

Five is believed to be writing directly to Aegis clients in a bid to pressure the agency into resolving the 2008 TV trading stand-off that has seen Aegis clients pulled from Five's schedule.

According to one agency's head of broadcast: "Aegis is under huge pressure from certain clients to end this stand-off with Five. In particular, its direct-response clients, the COI and toy brands such as Mattel and Lego are expected to be laying on the pressure."

Children's advertisers are more dependent on Five's Milkshake kids' programming strand since ITV decided to pull its children's programming from its weekday schedules last year.

And the Government's advertiser, the COI, is obliged to reach the widest possible audience with its public advice campaigns.

The broadcast head continued: "The direct TV clients have to appear on Five, as there is a cap on how many each broadcaster will show. Five is also the largest provider of kids' impacts on terrestrial TV, so if you are after kids under the age of nine - which most toy manufacturers are - you need to be advertising on there."

Another agency's head of broadcast felt the stand-off was a result of "casualty negotiations".

He explained: "Aegis has deliberately targeted Five as it is one of the cheapest and Aegis needs to build flexibility into its deals, as it's trying to pay back deals it hadn't delivered from the year before.

"If agencies have a share problem they always pick on either Five or IDS. I heard Aegis got a good deal with IDS, but has been aggressive with Five. It's a genuine stand-off at the moment."

John Overend, joint managing director of Omnicom buying operation OPera, added: "I am surprised that Aegis has taken the decision it has. I can imagine it suits some clients to be off Five, but I am surprised that it would suit all of them."

Five declined to comment and Aegis was unavailable to comment as Media Week went to press.

A rival broadcaster's head of sales confirmed that Aegis is spending extra money with other broadcasters to compensate for the time lost with Five.