RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A report by the TCU (Federal Audit Court) obtained by Folha de S. Paulo points out that Jair Bolsonaro’s government changed the logic of advertising funds allocation among open TV broadcasters, by granting the highest percentages of resources to Record and SBT – broadcasters that are considered allies of the Planalto, but are not audience leaders.
Despite being the most watched in the country, Globo now has a much smaller slice of the pie than its two competitors, which was not the case in the past, according to the court.
Since the election campaign, Globo has been the target of recurrent attacks by the president, who is protesting against media coverage of its programs. In late October, for instance, after a report linking his name to the murder of Marielle Franco, he challenged the renewal of the broadcasting company’s concession license in 2022.
The TCU requested that SECOM (Social Communications Secretariat of the Presidency) provide the spreadsheets of amounts paid to the three TV broadcasters, through advertising agencies, and compiled the data.
The aim was to support an open procedure based on the Audit Prosecutor’s Office to analyze whether resources are being distributed according to political criteria, favoring Record and SBT.
The data showed a reversal of trends. Until last year, Globo was allocated amounts closer to its share, i.e., the audience share in the total number of connected broadcasters.
In 2017, it received 48.5 percent of funds and, in 2018, 39.1 percent. This year, based on partial data, the share dropped to 16.3 percent. Record’s share was 26.6 percent in 2017, 31.1 percent in 2018 and is now 42.6 percent; SBT’s share was 24.8 percent, 29.6 percent, and 41 percent, respectively.
In the report, completed on October 31st, the TCU experts say assessing whether the government’s “change in behavior” was based on “objective and equitable” criteria is required.
Federal government advertising is regulated by last year’s administrative ruling, which establishes the audience as a criterion for media buying, albeit not the only one. Other features of broadcasters are also taken into account, such as their profile and reach in the country, as well as the segments of the population they reach.
Typically, bodies rely on data from Kantar IBOPE (a polling company) to define the rating. According to the company’s data, between January and October this year, Globo holds 33,1 percent of the TV audience, against 14,5 percent for SBT and 13,1 percent for Record. The polling data refer to the 15 main metropolitan regions.
In eight campaigns over the past two years, Globo always had majority participation, with a share between 37 and 57 percent. The two competitors varied between 10 and 24 percent.
In the 2018 presidential race, Bishop Edir Macedo, leader of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and owner of Record, expressed support for Bolsonaro, which was followed by other niceties after the inauguration.
In September, the president visited the Temple of Solomon, the headquarters of Universal in São Paulo, was praised and blessed by Macedo. A few days later, he welcomed the bishop and entrepreneur Silvio Santos, owner of SBT, on the platform of the September 7th independence day parade in Brasília.
Bolsonaro and his sons have prioritized the two TV stations in appearances and have become routine guests on their most popular programs.
This year, according to data obtained by the TCU and updated through June, the government allocated R$16.1 million (US$4.025 million) to the three TV broadcasters. The bulk of these resources (R$15.3 million) refers to the campaign promoting the Social Welfare reform.
The media plan, a document that traced the advertising strategies, says that the allocation occurred “according to the audience share and respected the negotiations so that the campaign may be viewed more broadly”.
Globo was allocated 18.1 percent of the campaign budget, Record was allocated 44.5 percent and SBT 37.4 percent.
IBOPE’s reference data, according to the TCU, showed that Record and SBT each held approximately one-fifth of the audience of open TV broadcasters at that time.
There were also merchandising actions, and Globo was left out. Shows in which Bolsonaro gives regular interviews advocating his administration’s measures were included, such as those of hosts Ratinho (SBT) and Datena (Band).
The report summed up the payments for the three television broadcasting groups, referring to the most diverse campaigns, between January 1st and last Monday, November 11th, from SECOM’s website. Globo had been favored with R$10.5 million, SBT with R$16.3 million and Record with R$19.7 million.
Based on the findings, the TCU auditors want SECOM to provide “technical and objective” criteria within 15 days to support the allocation of social welfare advertisements. They also demand reasons for choosing merchandising programs.
The decision on these measures will be in the hands of the rapporteur of the TCU proceeding, judge Vital do Rêgo. In 2019, SECOM’s spending on advertising suppliers, in various media outlets, totaled R$140.7 million by November 11th.
In the previous ten years, in amounts updated by inflation, this ranged from R$156.4 million to R$280.9 million, considering the 12 months of each year.
After being elected in 2018, Bolsonaro said that spending on state advertising would drop even further in 2020.
OTHER SIDE
Contacted by reporters, SECOM replied in a note that the criteria for selection of media in advertising campaigns “depend on the goals of the campaign and are not necessarily represented by the audience engagement rates, since it is information modeled from the target audience to be reached with the advertising and geographical coverage”.
In addition to the audience ratings, according to SECOM, variables such as “audience affinity, profile, and segmentation as well as cost-benefit ratio, among others,” are observed.
When asked about the public interest in allocating greater resources to less-watched TV broadcasters, the body stated that it uses “a mix of media outlets, in addition to the principle of cost-effectiveness established in the Federal Constitution”.
“Using only the most popular means of communication as the best way to invest in communication is not a fact,” the body’s statement said.
SECOM denied that President Jair Bolsonaro had instructed it to change the allocation of funds for open TV broadcasters.
It added that the amounts paid to a broadcaster “come from media schedules aimed at broadcasting the advertising content of publicity campaigns of the Presidency”.