According to Article 50.1 of the Election Code of Georgia, a broadcast license holder, an authorised over-the-air broadcaster, the Public Broadcaster and Adjara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster must, if airtime is allotted for pre-election campaigning and political advertising, publicly announce and weekly submit to the GNCC the following information: from and until what date and at what intervals the airtime is allotted, its duration and schedule of the allotted airtime during one day, and service provided.

The aforementioned information shall be submitted to the GNCC and published on the websites of the broadcasters in accordance with the 15 August 2012 Ordinance of the Communications Commission “On Media Participation in the Election Process.” The market values of free political adverts were determined by assigning the same values to the adverts as those determined by the broadcasters themselves in the relevant programmes.

Analysis of free and paid political advertising during the 2020 Georgian parliamentary elections showed that the total value of free advertising placed on television channels during the first and second rounds of the election was approximately GEL 62.5 million, while the total value of paid political adverts amounted to GEL 13.9 million based on the information supplied by the broadcasters. Monitoring revealed that broadcasters allocated almost 30,000 minutes in combined air time to free political advertising and 9,620 minutes to paid advertising, which is three times less than its free equivalent.   

Paid political advertising was placed by a total of 17 political unions across 34 channels, while free advertising was placed by 42 electoral subjects.

Mtavari Arkhi collected the most revenues (GEL 4,270,075) from paid pre-election advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on Mtavari Arkhi was GEL 5,583. Mtavari Arkhi allocated 66.2% of its paid political advertising time to the United National Movement, which accounted for 62.9% of the broadcaster’s revenues.

The second place is held by Teleimedi with revenues totaling GEL 3,327,974. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,902. Teleimedi allocated 71.6% of its paid political advertising time to Georgian Dream, which accounted for 67.5% of the broadcaster’s revenues.

The revenues of Rustavi 2 amounted to GEL 2,065,163. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,672. Rustavi 2 allocated 67.4% of its paid political advertising time to Georgian Dream, which accounted for 60.9% of the broadcaster’s revenues.

The revenues of TV Pirveli totalled GEL 1,865,753. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,978. TV Pirveli allocated the largest share of its paid political advertising time (37.1%) to Strategy Aghmashenebeli, although Lelo accounted for the largest share of the broadcaster’s revenues (27.6%).

During the pre-election period, broadcasters allocated almost 30,000 minutes in combined air time, worth approximately GEL 62.5 million, to free political advertising. The allocation of free political advertising by channel was as follows:

First Channel of Georgian Public Broadcaster allocated 15% of total advertising time to free political advertising. According to the list of tariffs published by the broadcaster, the average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,350. Thus, First Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 6.1 million in total.

Adjara TV of the Georgian Public Broadcaster allocated 8.7% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,235. Thus, Adjara TV of the Georgian Public Broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 3.2 million in total.

Mtavari Arkhi allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 5,583. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 13.5 million in total.

TV Pirveli allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,978. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 10.2 million in total.

Teleimedi allocated 8.3% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,902. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 9.7 million in total.

Rustavi 2 allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 3,672 Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 9.5 million in total.

Formula allocated 8.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 1,787. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 4.6 million in total.

Studio Maestro allocated 8.4% of total advertising time to free political advertising. According to the list of tariffs published by the broadcaster, the average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 914. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 2.3 million in total.

Pos TV allocated 9.2% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 593. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 1.6 million in total.

Palitra TV allocated 5.9% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 395. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 700,000 in total.

Euronews Georgia allocated 1.2% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 888. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 310,000 in total.

Obiektivi allocated 4.6% of total advertising time to free political advertising. The average cost per minute of placing paid political advertising on the channel was GEL 60. Thus, the broadcaster placed free advertising worth approximately GEL 82,000 in total.

Other broadcasters allocated 4.8% of their combined total advertising time to free political advertising worth approximately GEL 615,000 in total.