Research: Telekom and betting companies finance tabloids

(Source: Vreme) Monitoring of advertising in print media during the last three months of 2024 shows that the top advertisers in Serbian tabloids are Telekom Srbija, betting companies, funeral services, and the State Lottery of Serbia, with TV Pink leading among media outlets that purchase ads.

Despite predictions by media theorists and researchers worldwide that print would die out with the rise of the internet and social networks, research on advertising space—covering nine daily newspapers in their print editions—shows that most Serbian dailies continue to survive.

The study, “Advertising in Daily Newspapers in Serbia,” published by the Press Council, shows that print media in Serbia still maintain stable financial income, despite declining circulation numbers.

This is especially true for tabloids, which not only lead in the number of violations of the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics but also publish the most advertisements.

The research included Danas, Informer, Blic, Alo, Nova, Srpski telegraf, Politika, Kurir, and Večernje novosti, covering the period from October 1 to December 31, 2024.

A total of 5,734 ads were published in these papers over 1,996.34 pages during the three months. Given the average number of pages per issue, this would be equivalent to 63 full issues made up only of ads.

Most ads by count were published in: Politika (1,367), Večernje novosti (1,266), Srpski telegraf (947), Blic (491), Alo (466), Kurir (419), Danas (372), Informer (360), and Nova (46). However, when factoring in ad size (larger ads cost more and take more space), the ranking based on page area looks different.

Most ad space was found in Večernje novosti, followed by Srpski telegraf, Alo, Blic, Politika, Informer, Kurir, Danas, and finally Nova.

Top 10 advertisers by number of ads were Telekom Srbija (344), Admiral Bet (186, all in Srpski telegraf), Soccer Gambling (182, all in Srpski telegraf), Funeral Services (174, all in Politika and Večernje novosti), State Lottery of Serbia, TV Pink, Effe Farm, Arena Sport, Premium Slim, and Odeon Theater.

The next ten include Dunav Insurance, Vitalis, NIS, Pečat, Post of Serbia, Lidl, LaserMed Belgrade, Idea, Roda and Mercator, RTV Pančevo, and the Automobile and Motorcycle Association of Serbia (AMSS).

The most active sectors in print ads were media outlets, pharmaceutical companies, betting companies, and telecom operators. Also in the top 10 were funeral services, retail chains, theaters, games of chance, insurance companies, and banks.

When comparing ad volume with the Press Council’s monitoring of code violations, it is clear that numerous ethical breaches do not deter advertisers. On the contrary, the data suggests that the less a paper respects the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics, the more ads it receives.

Alo, with the most violations from October to December 2024, received ads from Arena Sport, Telekom Srbija, the State Lottery of Serbia, TV Pink, and RTV Pančevo.

Informer had 647 code violations in 397 articles. Its top advertisers were Telekom Srbija, the State Lottery of Serbia, Idea, Roda and Mercator, TV Pink, and Lilly.

Srpski telegraf, among the top three in code violations, had loyal advertisers, some of whom advertised exclusively in this paper. These include Admiral Bet, Soccer Gambling, Effe Farm, Telekom Srbija, and the State Lottery of Serbia.

Kurir had 355 violations in 270 articles. Its top advertiser was Zlatara Dok (all small ads), followed by Dunav Insurance, Sasomange, Telekom Srbija, LaserMed Belgrade, and Vitalis.

Funeral Services was the top advertiser in Večernje novosti with 85 small black-and-white ads, followed by Telekom Srbija, Pečat, Vitalis, ESI Serbia, and the State Lottery. According to Press Council monitoring, Novosti violated the Code 306 times in 240 articles from October 1 to December 31, 2024.

Blic had 152 violations, and its top advertisers were Premium Slim, Telekom Srbija, Golconda Publishing, MTS Arena, and LaserMed.

In Politika, the top advertisers were Funeral Services, Telekom Srbija, Prizma, Post of Serbia, and Audiovox. Politika had 94 code violations in 74 articles.

Nova had 51 code violations in 38 articles. Its top advertisers were Radar weekly, SBB, Lidl, and Neuroth.

Danas had the fewest violations—10 in nine articles. Its top advertisers were Nova TV, Radar weekly, the NGO Astra, and SBB.