The Communications Commission has issued TV Pirveli, Sezoni TV and Obieqtivi with a written caution, and fined Teleimedi GEL 2,500 for product placement violations. The Commission carried out monitoring of the programmes aired by the aforementioned broadcasters and identified violations such as influencing the content of the programme through product placement, direct encouragement to purchase specific products, and affording excessive significance to the products. In case of Sezoni TV and Obieqtivi, additional violations of sponsor identification rules were identified. 

Due to the fact that over the last year, TV Pirveli has not been held liable for product placement violations, while Sezoni TV and Obieqtivi have not been held liable for product placement and/or sponsor reference violations, the Communications Commission issued the broadcasters with a written caution. In contrast, Teleimedi committed a similar violation less than a month previously, for which the Commission imposed the minimum fine of GEL 2,500 GEL on the broadcaster. 

In 2024, ComCom held a conference titled “TV Advertising Market Challenges – Product Placement.” During the event, the Commission presented to the media representatives and interested parties the research and the results of the study on product placement conducted with the EU media expert Jean-Francois Fournemont. The research established that although the Georgian legislation was in compliance with European standards, product placement rules were being grossly violated by TV stations on a daily basis. Furthermore, the Commission afforded the broadcasters a transitional period until the end of 2024 in order to bring their work, their approaches and their client contracts in line with the law. At the end of the transitional period, the Commission would start enforcing the law with full strictness. 

During the transitional period, ComCom representatives held individual consultations with representatives of TV stations, discussing examples of product placement violations, the legislative framework and guidelines in detail, allowing all broadcasters to effectively implement the law from 2025. 

Unlawful placement of advertising communications is a gross violation of interests of the viewers, as it may influence their decisions. Furthermore, product placement and sponsorship references in a programme must be clearly identified to ensure that viewers know what kind of commercial communication they are dealing with. It is therefore important that broadcasters comply with the Georgian legislation on product placement in order to avoid violating the rights of the viewers and influencing the programme content which, in turn, would negatively affect the quality of the media product.