Mediapulse upgrades TV research

 
TV research Whether Bluewin TV, DVB-T or video on demand: Mediapulse can measure them all Although the reception of analog TV signals is still the norm in Swiss households, according to the 2007 KommTech study, around one fifth of Swiss TV viewers are now tuned in to digital - via satellite (DVB-S), home antenna (DVB-T), TV cable (DVB-C) or telephone line (IPTV). As a result of the SRG switching the terrestrial distribution of its TV signals from analog to digital last year, DVB-T has received a boost, particularly in French-speaking Switzerland. However, DVB-C and IPTV are also being promoted. Swisscom, for example, hopes to double the number of BluewinTV subscribers to at least 140,000 by the end of 2008, which would correspond to almost five percent of all Swiss households. A completely new situation with regard to digital TV reception will arise if mobile TV (DVB-H) also proves popular.
Mediapulse AG also wants to keep up with this rapid development. The company, which is responsible for TV usage research in Switzerland, has therefore recently upgraded its TV panel so that all households with digital TV can now also be measured. "Since mid-April 2008, the Telecontrol data now also includes complete live digital usage on the TV screen at home," says Mediapulse CEO Manuel Dähler. Specifically, it is now also possible to record the range of programs that flicker into homes via BluewinTV or newer set-top boxes.
Mediapulse has already measured the majority of digital TV usage. Digital reception via satellite, for example, did not present any problems. The situation was different for cable reception, where new set-top box models made measurement more difficult or even impossible. Overall, around a quarter of digital TV households or a maximum of four to six percent of all Swiss TV households were not or not fully covered by April.
The completion of the TV measurement was made possible thanks to a new approach: instead of just recording the signals from the set-top box, the focus is now on the TV screen. The Telecontrol system "reads" the channel number and logo, among other things. This method also makes it possible to measure new forms of usage that are only made possible by digital reception, such as video on demand or time-shifted television using DVD and hard disk recorders. "We are already collecting the corresponding raw data, but we are still analyzing it and will only release it later," says Dähler. Conventions first have to be agreed, for example on the question of how time-shifted television should be offset against live television.
The measurement gaps in digital TV have been an issue in Switzerland on several occasions. The discussion flared up again recently when SF Director Ingrid Deltenre from Mediapulse publicly demanded an explanation for the decline in SF ratings since the beginning of the year. She suspects a connection with the new digital terrestrial distribution of SF programs (DVB-T).     
 
Markus Knöpfli