Season's greetings to all from the team at P3. Thank you for your continued interest in the services and information we provide. The P3 offices in Sydney and Melbourne will be scaled down from Dec 24 to Jan 10. For help or advice during this time Brendan van Maanen is your primary point of contact. 

In this final edition of P3 e-news for 2004 we have the news that the AFA and MEAA have negotiated new increased voice over rates effective January 1 2005. See below for details.
 
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The media starts talking up prices and before you know it there is a flow on effect to production. In this case voice over rates have increased for the first time in five years. The MEAA (Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance) has posted the new rates on their website subject to member approval, however it is effective from January 1 2005. So how much has the rate increased?

Rates increase by up to 30%

While in the five year period covering the last agreement cost of living rose 11% - 12%, the AFA have negotiated an average increase of just over 9% for the next three years. However, the most popular format of 15 sec - 30 sec TVCs more than 1 state, has increased 30% to $650 per track.

Increases across the board

Length of Commercial    12 months more than 1 state      12 months 1 state only 
1 x 15 or 1 x 30             $650.00                                    $440.00               
% increase                    30%                                         12.82%
1 x 45 or 1 x 60             $700.00                                    $480.00
% increase                    25%                                         9.09%
1 x 90                           $750.00                                    $520.00
% increase                    20.97%                                     6.1%
1 x 2 minute                  $800.00                                    $560.00
% increase                    17.65%                                     5.6%

Length of Commercial    3 months more than 1 state        3 months 1 state only
1 x 15 or 1 x 30             $400.00                                    $300.00
% increase                   15.94%                                      7.14%
1 x 45 or 1 x 60             $425.00                                    $320.00
% increase                    11.84%                                     6.67%
1 x 90                           $450.00                                    $340.00
% increase                    8.43%                                       6.25%
1 x 2 minute                  $475.00                                    $360.00
% increase                    5.55%                                       5.88%

The good news?

The internet has been negotiated at half the original media rate (TV or Radio) or if recorded for the internet then the radio rate. Also research narratives have not increased and stay at $160 per script.

For government advertisers there appears to be discussions around clarifying what is political advertising and what is not. But the MEAA ominously state that discussions are continuing.

Impact on budgets

While voice over talent is a relatively small cost for television productions, this is indicative of the trend for 2005, with so much talk of increasing advertising budgets, many are looking to get more share of this supposedly growing pie.

This will impact on retailers who often produce a number of variations in execution and will continue to pay for each variation even if the voice over remains the same. eg. 25 different versions is effectively a $2500 increase in talent fees.

The new rates are effective January 1 2005 and only on work commissioned from that date. Existing rollovers are not affected. These rates are also the industry minimum with the potential for some actors and agents to demand greater fees.

An opportunity missed

Two interesting points to consider:

1. Why is the AFA negotiating the voice over agreement with the MEAA? The talent rates have no impact on their revenue and there is no economic incentive to control these with the costs passed directly to the advertiser.

2. Were there any productivity gains achieved in the negotiation? It appears from the information provided that this was primarily a fee negotiation. What about addressing some of the other issues around talent fees and the MEAA standard talent contract.

Any negotiation should focus on all aspects of the relationship as negotiating on cost alone invariably leads to a win / lose result. We will leave it to you to decide who are the losers.

For more information on television production cost or any issue associated with creative print or electronic production email tv@p3.com.au or print@p3.com.au or visit our website at www.p3tv.com.au or www.p3print.com.au

P3TV Production Workshops scheduled for the new year

Register your interest now.

To be held in partnership with
the Nine Network and 9mm Commercials at Nine Studios Richmond, Victoria on Feb 22 2005 from 1 pm until 5 pm and Willoughby, NSW at a time to be confirmed.

If you are interested in the next workshop, contact P3 by email at tv@p3.com.au

Numbers are limited to just 25 people per workshop.

Brendan van Maanen can be contacted by email at brendan@p3.com.au or through the P3 offices in Sydney or Melbourne.

Telephone
Sydney 02 9279 4997
Melbourne 03 9378 3223

Fax
Sydney 02 9279 4971
Melbourne 03 9379 8415