Hello,

My company would like to advertise our website on Australian TV
channels Seven, Nine and Ten in Melbourne and Sydney.
We intend to produce the ad(s) in-house but I know nothing about TV
advertising rules and regulations. Therefore I would like assistance
in finding the rules we need to know and the guidelines we must
follow.
I would also like technical specifications, e.g., what file format
should the ad(s) be in and what resolution?

Further information would be very much appreciated and rewarded.

Thank you very much

Hi, 

I work in the television industry in New Zealand, so hopefully I
should be able to help with this.

Television advertising in Australia is regulated, on a voluntary
basis, by the Australian Standards Bureau (
http://www.advertisingstandardsbureau.com.au/ ) - they are a
self-regulating industry body and act on a complaint-initiated basis.
Therefore it is the advertiser's duty to ensure their ad meets the
regulations.

Also, Television advertising in Australia is bound by the Australian
Government's Australian Communications and Media Authority, and it's
Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, as legislated by the
Broadcasting Services Act 1992. This code applies to all aspects of
commerical television, from News and Current Affairs to Advertising,
and covers programme content and it's rating, as well as issues such
as accuracy and fairness.

Essentially from a regulations point of view, you are legally bound by
the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, and the industry
enforces the ASB regulations. You should read both documents to
understand what is not acceptable in advertising.

ACMA - Commerical Television Code of Practice
http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.65636:STANDARD::pc=PC_90096


ASB - Code of Ethics
http://www.advertisingstandardsbureau.com.au/aana_code_ethics.html

If you are advertising to children there are additional guidelines and regulations.

ACMA - Children's Television Standards
http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.65636:STANDARD::pc=PC_90095

ASB - Advertising to Children Code
http://www.advertisingstandardsbureau.com.au/aana_code_ethics.html



Commercials Advice Pty Ltd (CAD) offers a ratings and information to
advertisers, a service you may be required to obtain by many
broadcasters.
http://www.freetvaust.com.au/Content_Common/pg-Commercials-Advice.seo

Generally speaking these regulations relate to honest representation,
fair competition and acceptible content. By and large, as long as your
advertising isn't making outrageous claims, unfairly comparing your
products to those of your competitors or featuring inappropriate
material, you should find the codes fairly straight forward.

From a technical perspective, Australia operates a PAL television
system. This means a frame of PAL D1 (720x576px) at 25fps.

Within that PAL frame, the inner 90% is deemed 'Action Safe' - nothing
outside this area should necessarily be expected to appear on screens,
but it must contain image. This means important content must be inside
this 90%. Additionally the inner 80% of the frame is deemed 'Title
Safe' - no titles or graphics should appear outside this area. This is
to ensure that all television, even poorly calibrated ones, are able
to see all important information.

Most television stations will require delivery on tape, specifically
on Digital Betacam or Betacam SP formats. However digital delivery
through an approved provider such as DubSat (
http://www.dubsat.com.au/ ) may be possible. They may be able to
accept delivery by file, rather than tape, but this will need to be
discussed with them. Otherwise, generally, the final delivery format
will need to be on tape. If you do not have the facilities to output a
tape directly, contact a video post-production facilitie, and they
will be able to assist.

One slightly unusual requirement of Australian Television Commercials
is that audio start half a second after picture, and end half a second
before. This means the audio portion of a 15 second ad is exactly 14
seconds.

All advertisements will need to have a unique 'Key Number' which can
be used to identify your ad from others ads. It is typically three or
four letters, 4-6 numbers, and the duration of the ad. The same ad, in
two different durations will generally have the same number, except
for the final digits. The letters at the beginning are normally an
abbreviation of the company or brand. The numbers may be sequential
from a pre-determined start point, or are sometimes a date reference.
Some examples:
GHS/00013/30 (Sequential style)
ABA/060801/15 (Date based - Year, month, day, always increases numerically)

Bookings for advertising will need to be made directly through tv
stations, or through a third-party media buyer. They will be able to
advise of any specific requirements of the broadcaster. Broadcasters
tend not to provide information of advertising sales online, so I am
afraid I cannot provide you with any suitable links for that.

Below are some relevant links that you may like to review.

Advertising Standards Bureau
http://www.advertisingstandardsbureau.com.au/

Australian Communication and Media Authority
http://www.acma.gov.au/

Australian Association of National Advertisers
http://www.aana.com.au/

Advertising Federation of Australia
http://www.afa.org.au/

Free TV Australia
http://www.freetvaust.com.au/

Wikipedia: PAL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

DubSat
http://www.dubsat.com.au/


I hope this helps. Let me know if you require clarification or
additional information on the points.

Regards
Sycophant

Thank you for your answer. Exactly what was asked for.