Media watchdog: ‘Advertising for live streams on VRT Max is not allowed’

Anyone who wants to watch Canvas or One live via the free online platform VRTMax will now invariably see a few advertising videos first. Even if on thatlivestream at that moment just The news or another current program is inprogress. That was one of the most remarkable changes that the publicbroadcaster made when the platform shifted from VRT Nu to VRT Max this summer.

That is not allowed, says the Flemish Regulator for the Media (VRM) now. Aftera complaint from a VRT Max viewer, the media watchdog has tested thebroadcasting of those so-called prerolls – advertising messages that can startplaying before the live streams – against the Flemish media decree. The VRMhas come to the conclusion that the live streams of Canvas and One on VRT Maxare subject to the same rules as the linear channels on TV. And advertising isprohibited on the linear channels of the public broadcaster, except ‘in thecase of radio advertising and advertising aimed at self-promotion’.

Because the VRM is speaking out on this issue for the first time, the VRTreceives a warning as a sanction. It is not yet entirely clear whether thepublic broadcaster will now cancel the prerolls and when exactly. In a shortresponse to the news, VRT spokesman Jan Sulmont states that the VRT is’surprised by the verdict and is examining it further internally’. If thebroadcaster continues to broadcast the advertisement on VRT Max, it risksfines.

Even before this statement by the Flemish media watchdog, the so-called pre-rolls in live streams on VRT Max were under fire. On the online platforms ofcommercial competitors, such as VTM GO, for example, there is no advertisingfor the start-up of the live streams. The idea is that the advertising isalready included in the broadcasts. The fact that VRT Max does show prerollswas seen in the media sector as a symptom of the increasingly commercialcourse that the VRT is taking under its new CEO Frederik Delaplace and ofsavings on the VRT’s grant.

Read | ‘VRT’s commercial course annoys media companies’

There was also several annoyances in parliament about the commercial courseand the advertising messages on VRT Max. The Flemish Minister of Media,Benjamin Dalle (CD&V), reported to the Media Committee last Thursday that hehad reprimanded the VRT for the use of these types of advertising messages onVRT Max. “That’s something that bothers people and is actually not possible,”Dalle said in the Commission. According to him, the advertising messages inlive reporting are at odds with the digital strategy of the publicbroadcaster. ‘The agreement is that digital applications should be as user-friendly as linear channels,’ said the minister. He also pointed out that thepractice conflicts with the management agreement between the VRT and theFlemish government. Dalle said he also raised the objection with the VRT.”They understand our position and there will be an extinction scenario.”

Striking: it is the second time that the CD&V minister is keen on a strategicdecision by the VRT management. When the broadcaster announced at the end ofAugust that it would close the regional morning block of Radio 2, Dalle, inhis own words, choked on his coffee. “Local news is very important to CD&V andit is also part of Radio 2’s DNA,” he said in a statement The last news.