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TV Ratings
Let’s get Scientific
How are the ratings? What are your ratings like?
Having recently launched HFA TV, Africa’s foremost
Fashion Channel on Cable Network; PlayTV (formerly
Consat), this is a question I am getting all too used to
hearing, and with despair I reply: I wish I knew.
By Damilola Amolegbe
You cannot discuss the television industry’s value chain
without talking about adequate audience measurement
and I have wondered how, since 1959, we are still unable
to resolve something so critical in driving fair Advertising &
Sponsorship Revenues.
For a decade, Nigeria has relied solely on the diary audience
measurement System which has been championed by Media
Planning Services (MPS), yet, to more of a disservice not only to
the media industry but to advertising agencies as well, who require
in-depth information on how to reach their target audience.
For the newbies like me wondering what diary audience
measurement means, it simply means a “reporter” visits an office
or residence and asks whoever is there, at that moment what they
are watching. This is an immediate threat to the industry, as the
census/MPS:
• Exaggerate their top-of-mind channels and are not precise
about what they actually watch.
• Are unable to reach specific target audiences such as high
net worth Individuals, millennials, lower-income households
to name a few.
• Late turn-around time of one month on “data capture” due to
processing & formatting.
• Corruption; media companies bribing their way to the top of
the list to appeal to advertisers, due to the lack of transparency
using diary audience measurement system.
Quoting Vesselin Shaoulov, CEO of GARB Audience Measurement
in Bulgaria in a recent interview conducted with ContentNigeria.
Net “Looking at the African market, right now, South Africa is
more than three times bigger [in value] than Nigeria, and there’s
The value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising
Market is not proportionate to its Population,
though by 2020, the gap between South Africa
and Nigeria is projected to marginally decline to
72% from 76% in 2016.
only one reason for that: they have metrics and Nigeria doesn’t. South
Africa has 60 million people, US$300bn in GDP and a profit of US$1.5bn in
the media market.
However, Nigerian media is making US$400m with a population of 200
million. Over US$400bn GDP is produced here – therefore the economy
is larger than South Africa by 30% to 40%, and the population even more
so. Yet, Nigerian media makes less than a third what South African media
does. It is unfair to Nigeria.”
The value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising Market is not proportionate
to its Population, though by 2020, the gap between South Africa and
Nigeria is projected to decline marginally to 72% from 76% in 2016, and
can decline at a faster rate if these are taken into consideration:
• Formalizing the relationship between ‘Primary Value-Chain
Stakeholders’ (Broadcasters, Marketers and AD Agencies and
‘Secondary Supplier Stakeholders’ (Audience Research and
Advertising Monitoring Houses) such as; Broadcasting Organizations
of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of
Nigeria (MIPAN), Advertisers Association (ADVAN), GeoPoll, Infotools
and Monitoring Services Nigeria to name a few, and together form a
Council Board.
• In South Africa, broadcasting audience research is managed by the
Broadcasting Research Council of South Africa (BRC). The BRC is a
nonprofit organization governed by an Independent board made-up
of television and Radio Broadcasters. Its primary responsibility is to
commission and oversee the delivery of television and radio audience
measurement research for broadcasters as well as the advertising and
marketing Industry.
• Television Audience Measurement (TAMS): The TAMS is a
*Peoplemeter based research tool. The Council Board ensures that
it has proper controls, transparent reporting and regular audits in
place, making it easy for users to be able to access the data through
various industry standard media planning software tools.
• Expect from the Council Board the development of a multi-year
roadmap for transitioning audience & advertising measurement
system from the current privately managed model to an industryled
and funded model; to review the efficacy of the diary system
and recommend options for making it more scientific and robust OR
introduce a *Peoplemeter system.
Content producers like myself have become increasingly reliant on close
relationships for advertising, which unfortunately belittles the authenticity
of our creative output in favor of a few decision makers, instead of
millions of TV viewers readily available, hindering us from reaching our
full potential.
*Peoplemeter is an electronic method of television measurement that
moved from active and diary-based to passive and meter-monitored. It
was created by America Marketing Research Firm, The Nielsen Company.
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