ABC caught spending $2 million of taxpayer money on advertising

  • ABC chief financial officer Louise Higgins defending big social media spend
  • She told a Senate hearing why taxpayers needed to pay Facebook and Google
  • American digital giants are getting $2 million a year despite $84 million freeze 

The ABC is giving $2 million a year in taxpayer funds to American digital giants Facebook and Google to promote its content online.

The national broadcaster’s chief financial officer Louise Higgins defended the policy of spending half its annual marketing budget on social media and internet search engine promotions.

With the ABC already dealing with an $84 million funding freeze over three years Ms Higgins, who earns $167,000 a year, said this spending was necessary.

The ABC is giving $2 million a year in taxpayer funds to American digital giants Facebook (founder Mark Zuckerberg pictured right with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong) and Google to promote its content online.

‘I don’t want to be too cute in saying that traditional advertising doesn’t necessarily always work,’ she told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Wednesday night.

‘And therefore the way that we can reach Australians, so they can see the content that’s available to them, given the big growth social platforms have had, is through Google and Facebook.’ 

Ms Higgins also told the Senate Environment and Communications Committee the ABC spent $1.4 million a year advertising with Facebook and another $500,000 boosting its Google search engine results.

While this amount is half the ABC’s annual $4 million marketing budget, she described it as a ‘very small investment in making sure that Australians are aware of the content that we’re making’.

The ABC's chief financial officer Louise Higgins defended the policy of spending half its annual marketing budget on social media and internet search engine promotions

The ABC’s chief financial officer Louise Higgins defended the policy of spending half its annual marketing budget on social media and internet search engine promotions

The ABC’s chief financial officer also defended the national broadcaster’s aggressive expansion into online content, which newspaper publishers including News Corp Australia have objected to.

‘If you are not operating in a digital environment then there will be a significant amount of Australians who will not be consuming our content,’ Ms Higgins said.

The ABC heavily promotes low-rating comedy programs on Facebook, including Tonightly with Tom Ballard and ABC Indigenous, which in March had a segment where Aboriginal people described white people as ‘c***s’.

The ABC heavily promotes low-rating comedy programs on Facebook, including Tonightly with Tom Ballard (pictured right with Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers)

The ABC heavily promotes low-rating comedy programs on Facebook, including Tonightly with Tom Ballard (pictured right with Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers)

ABC Indigenous programs are also promoted on Facebook, including a skit show where white people are referred to as 'c***s' 

ABC Indigenous programs are also promoted on Facebook, including a skit show where white people are referred to as ‘c***s’ 

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