Over the last two weeks, the 14 political parties taking part in the upcoming Yerevan Council of Elders elections on September 17 have been sharing their pre-election programs and their vision for Yerevan’s development with the residents of the city. During the first week of the pre-election campaign, political parties utilized both free and paid airtime on television and radio for advertising.

The Television and Radio Commission has released a report on the propaganda order compliance in television and radio companies from August 23-29. The report includes details on the amount of free and paid airtime consumed by each political party.

Expenses

During the first week of the campaign, TRC reported that 12 out of 14 political parties took advantage of the opportunity to broadcast their political advertisements for free on Public Television. The only two parties that did not use this opportunity were the “European Party of Armenia” and “United Armenia.”

In the case of paid political advertising, the picture is slightly different. Most political forces decided to limit spending on paid airtime during the first week of political advertising.

During paid airtime, political advertising was predominantly purchased by “Civil Contract,” “Country of Living,” and the “Mother Armenia” party alliance.

The “Country of Living” party made the most of the opportunities presented by all 11 TV stations that offered paid airtime.

The `’Civil Contract” party purchased airtime from 10 TV stations, excluding the “New Armenia” TV station.

The “Civil Contract” party purchased airtime from 10 TV stations, excluding the “New Armenia” TV station.

The “Mother Armenia” alliance paid for advertising on 5 TV stations: “Armenia TV,” “Channel 5”, “Yerkir Media,” “Public TV,” and “Dar 21”.

Amounts received by TV companies

Before the start of the campaign, TV stations of the Republican and Capital distributions published per-minute tariffs for paid airtime during the pre-election campaign in accordance with the law.

The highest price per minute, 100,000 drams, was set by the “Armenia” TV company.

“Shant” held the second position. The price per minute is 45,000 AMD from 06:00 to 17:59 and 90,000 AMD from 18:00 to 23:59.

The Public TV Company was in third place with the set price of 48 thousand drams per 1 minute.

During the first week of the campaign, we can determine the total amount received by broadcasters by multiplying the duration of paid advertising by the price of one minute of political advertising.

Notably, “Armenia” and “Shant” television companies have earned the highest revenue from paid television advertising. It is essential to consider that “Shant” has set different prices in different time slots; hence, the average value is calculated.

According to the report, “Channel 5” ranks among the top three TV companies that have received the highest revenue from paid TV advertising within the first seven days. The political parties or candidates who wish to advertise on “Channel 5” will have to pay 30,000 drams for each minute of advertising.

During the first week of the pre-election campaign, political parties used less free airtime on Public Radio than Public Television. The only one to purchase advertising time on Public Radio was the “Mother Armenia” alliance.

Out of the 14 political parties, only two have utilized the option of paid airtime on radio stations to communicate their pre-election plans and activities to the citizens of Yerevan.

During one week of the campaign, the “Country of Living” party spent 718,647 drams on radio advertising, while the “Mother Armenia” alliance of parties spent 653,125 drams.

Marianna Danielyan