The new TV panel

After IGEM presented the new advertising tool at an event on June 21, Mediapulse and Kantar Media Switzerland now presented the new panel at an insider lunch. Since 1985, television usage in Switzerland has been measured using Telecontrol devices developed in Switzerland. This is now over after 27 years. The Telecontrol VIII devices last used will be completely replaced. As Mediapulse Director Manuel Dähler explained, from 2013 the measurements will be carried out exclusively in newly recruited households using new devices from Kantar Media Switzerland. The number of households will remain the same as before at 1870, but the results will be significantly more representative than before. This is partly due to the better coverage of the universe and partly to a new technology for measuring usage.

The new universe

Whereas previously only usage via the classic TV set in households with a telephone connection was measured, the new panel significantly expands the basis. This is based on the New Establishment Survey (NES), which has been conducted continuously since 2009. It is no longer based on the telephone directory, but on the address directory
of the post office. In a first step, houses are drawn from this. If they contain apartments, an address is drawn from them. Those households that can be reached by telephone are surveyed in this way, the others in writing. This revealed that 18 percent of households do not have a telephone number in the directory. The new panel households are now selected from this NES sample. From 2013, TV usage via PC or laptop will also be measured in the new panel households, as this usage is becoming increasingly important. According to the KommTech study by IGEM and Publica Data, the proportion of people who watch television via the internet at least once a week rose from 6.3% in 2010 to 10.4% in 2012.

Time-shifted usage was also previously a black box. It is now also measured and included in usage if it takes place within seven days of the initial broadcast. This interval is also used internationally in most countries because the TV programs have the same program structure for each day of the week.

The new technology

In order to record usage via PC and laptop, software is installed on all relevant devices in a panel household. If a household has high-speed Internet access, this is a prerequisite for being included in the panel at all. Unfortunately, however, iPhones and iPads, which are very popular in Switzerland, cannot be integrated because Apple does not allow apps that "listen". A solution will therefore be examined from 2013 to see whether the corresponding technology could be integrated directly into the provider's apps (e.g. Zatto, Wilmaa, Teleboy, SRF, etc.).

In the past, digital reception could only be measured on classic TV sets if it was via a set-top box connected via a Scart or HDMI cable. In the meantime, however, digital reception is increasingly taking place via TV sets with an integrated receiver. With such TV sets, the current measuring device would not be able to record the entire usage, which is why households that are currently equipped accordingly cannot be included in the panel. And if they buy a suitable device, they will be excluded from the panel and replaced. One technically possible solution would have been so-called watermarking. However, this would have required every TV broadcaster to send a corresponding signal. This is an unrealistic approach due to the high proportion of foreign content, as broadcasters without commercial interests in Switzerland (such as ARD, ZDF, ORF) would hardly have participated. And this would have meant that television usage would have been incompletely represented. The new panel therefore relies on audio matching, which is already familiar from radio research and is completely independent of distribution technologies. A tricky point here could be programs that are broadcast on several channels. These include programs with advertising windows, which can be received via satellite both in the original version and in the version with Swiss advertising. However, these channels can be distinguished on the basis of the household installation and the advertising broadcast. The cost of this new technology should not be underestimated. In order to be able to compare the audio signal recorded in households with that of the programs broadcast, no fewer than 400 channels have to be recorded acoustically at a total of seven locations in Switzerland. Nevertheless, at CHF 10.8 million per year, the total costs for the panel are only 8% higher than before. The majority of these costs are financed by the broadcasters. A new distribution formula is based 20 percent on the audience potential in the broadcasting area and 80 percent on the actual market share. In addition, the Mediapulse Foundation currently receives a contribution of CHF 2.5 million per year from reception fees towards investments in measurement technology.

The new measuring company

Kantar Media Switzerland is headquartered in Gümligen near Bern and was launched in spring 2012 with an initial staff of three. The managing director is Matthias Hartl from Valais. Although he is not from the industry, he has already managed a project in the ICT sector at Swisscom that had absolutely no delays (transition to the year 2000). Since the beginning of October, more than forty people have been working for the new company. At peak times, up to 26 technicians are employed for the introduction phase with the many household installations. Some of this support is even being provided by other Kantar Media subsidiaries. The recruitment of households is very challenging and basically on schedule; Hartl is convinced that the data will be delivered from January 1, 2013.

The new evaluation tools

New tools are also needed to analyze the new data. They were already presented at the IGEM event "New TV advertising tool" on June 21. In addition to the Media Wizard for advertising planning, the new basic evaluation software InfoSys+ is also included. It replaces the Media Reporter, which can be used to evaluate both programs and advertising. It is used worldwide and has now been adapted to the special conditions in Switzerland. All TV usage data dating back to 1995 is integrated into this software. Agencies wishing to work with program data require a corresponding license. It costs CHF 12,500 per calendar year including one workstation.

Ueli Custer