Under Lula, Globo returns to lead government advertising – 07/24/2023 – Politics

The Globo group has resumed the leading role in publicity for the federal government under Lula (PT) and dominates the 2023 advertising budgets.

In just over six months of the PT’s third term, Globo media outlets received at least BRL 54.4 million in advertisements from Secom (Secretary of Social Communication) of the Presidency of the Republic and ministries, while Record was the destination of BRL 13 million. Another R$ 12 million was disbursed to SBT.

Data were extracted from the federal government’s media planning portal, which shows amounts paid in advertising actions already carried out by Secom and other federal government agencies.

The site does not show payments made in advertisements for public banks and state-owned companies, such as Petrobras. The final destination of these figures is kept confidential even after requests based on the Freedom of Information Act.

According to data released by Secom, Globo had received similar amounts to its main competitors during the Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022), with a slight advantage for Record, TV linked to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

Record vehicles received around R$ 200 million in four years for advertising campaigns carried out under Bolsonaro, by Secom and ministries.

In the same period, Globo stations earned BRL 189 million, while SBT received BRL 169.35 million. The values ​​are nominal, that is, without adjustment for inflation.

Record still lost space in advertising on digital channels under Lula. The R7 portal, which earned at least BRL 8.4 million in the previous administration, has not registered payments so far, while the Globo.com website received at least BRL 394.5 thousand.

Questioned about the division of advertising resources, Secom said that “the groups mentioned” have different numbers of vehicles and that the expense portal is “constantly updated”. The secretariat did not answer what criteria it uses to direct TV resources.

Secom only stated that “the comparisons made by Sheet” and that uses “normative and technical studies presented by the agencies” as criteria. “Such as: audience, segment, coverage, etc.”

Lula and the PT were former critics of Globo, but the current management has established a more friendly relationship with the broadcaster.

In a note, Globo’s communication said it understood that “public advertising funds follow technical criteria observed by federal agencies”.

Globo has been, over the decades, the most watched Brazilian TV channel.

Last Thursday (20), for example, it scored 13.8 points, on average, in Greater São Paulo, according to information from the site Notícias da TV, from UOL. Record reached 5.7 points, SBT 3.0 points and Band, 2.1 points. Each point is equivalent to 70,953 households in Greater São Paulo.

Practically all of the money directed to the Globo group was destined for the group’s TV stations.

Data from Secom and ministries still show changes in advertising criteria in newspapers. These bodies announced again in the Sheet (BRL 352.9 thousand), O Globo (BRL 398.9 thousand) and O Estado de S. Paulo (BRL 206.8 thousand), three vehicles that had not been included in federal media plans from 2020 to 2022.

Federal bodies also started buying advertising spaces from channels aligned with the PT administration. The Brasil 247 website received R$ 59.9 thousand. Diário do Centro do Mundo received R$46,200 in advertisements, while the site O Cafezinho earned at least R$4,900.

Brasil 247 said that there is no political alignment, but “professionalism and independence”, and that it was excluded from advertising in the Michel Temer (MDB) and Bolsonaro administrations for persecution of the independent media.

Meta, the company that controls Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was the fifth group that received the most advertising funds in the Bolsonaro and Lula administrations.

The ranking of the biggest beneficiaries also includes companies that publish advertisements in subways, airports and digital billboards, such as Eletromidia and JCDecaux.

Under Lula, TikTok and Kwai also appear among the top ten destinations for federal advertising.

Disclosure of federal government media expenses is precarious. As there is a lack of data on the amounts paid by state-owned and public banks, there is no conclusive balance on the distribution of advertisements.

Government data show that advertising campaigns carried out by the Bolsonaro administration totaled BRL 2.1 billion in ads over four years. This clipping mainly considers actions by the Ministry of Health and Secom.

The information available on Lula’s campaigns totals around R$ 120 million in these six months.

Of the BRL 54.4 million allocated to Grupo Globo in federal advertising, around BRL 9 million went to advertisements aired during Jornal Nacional, the station’s main newscast.

The highest value campaign of Lula’s administration, with R$ 32.7 million disbursed, deals with the promotion of government deliveries in the 100 days of Lula’s administration.

Saúde disbursed at least BRL 37.1 million to encourage vaccination against Covid-19 and flu, in more than one advertising action.

As there is asymmetry in checking the placement of advertisements in each medium (TVs, radios, internet, newspapers, billboards, etc.), it is possible that Globo’s dominance over the advertising budget will decrease during the year.

This is because there are pieces that have already been broadcast on radios, for example, but may be under accountability, with amounts not yet disbursed.

“The portal informs partial values ​​and only the authorizations confirmed by the Bodies. In addition, it is constantly updated due to the flow of information”, said Secom.

At the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration, Globo came in third on the list of federal advertising funds, behind Record and SBT.

A Sheet showed, at the time, that Bolsonaro had changed criteria for distributing ads, reducing values ​​for the leading audience broadcaster. The channel was the target of several criticisms from the former president, who even threatened not to renew his concession, but backed down and signed the renewal days before leaving the government.

In 2020, the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) concluded that technical criteria were lacking in the distribution of funds to open TVs. In the following years, Globo returned to lead the ranking of federal advertising, although close to Record.

In a note, Secom said that “confirmations between groups/vehicles do not occur simultaneously and articulated, the groups mentioned have different volumes of vehicles in their composition, giving a distorted view of public investment in communication”.

In a note, O Cafezinho said that the portal meets the technical criteria required by the federal government for the placement of advertisements and that, therefore, it accepted Secom’s proposal to receive advertisements.

Brasil 247 said that the amounts received are “within market standards for a portal that has an average of 34 million monthly pageviews and is a leader and opinion maker in its segment of political analysis and information curation”.

The Media Banco24Horas claims to be a digital media vehicle present in the lives of 153 million Brazilians, with capillarity and penetration in different regions and social classes, which makes it a safe and high-impact channel for transmitting campaigns to the population.

“Broadcasting contracts follow compliance guidelines and are audited by the IVC [Instituto Verificador de Comunicação].”

SBT and Eletromidia did not comment, as did the other companies mentioned.