UBI World TV: advertisers are ignoring Australia’s ethnic communities
Multi-cultural TV and radio network UBI World TV, which has acquired the Spanish and Greek services of WIN TV, has hit out at advertisers for ignoring Australia’s ethnic communities.
The company’s business development director Benjamin Boulos told Mumbrella that corporate Australia “is not talking to” a market with $73 billion in spending power.
“They don’t seem to recognise that one in four Australians are born overseas, and that ratio is far higher in key advertising markets Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.
The global financial crisis has curbed the enthusiasm of agencies to try alternative media channels, he added. “It seems that agencies don’t see ethnic communities as a way to grow their clients’ revenue. They want to keep things the way they are.”
UBI World TV’s acquisition of Spanish and Greek services have increased subscriber numbers by 15,000, and the daily reach of the network to 200,000.
Advertising on UBI World TV can cost as little as $150 for a 30 second spot. Most advertisers currently airing on the network are local businesses.
“There’s a perception, too, that it’s too expensive to get an ad translated into another language. It’s true that our viewers like to consume programmes in language. But that doesn’t mean they don’t understand English.”
UBI offers inhouse translation and voice over services to target particular groups. Its platforms span 120 premium TV and radio channels in 14 languages , including Arabic, Balkan, Brazilian, Filipino, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.
