AURORA: What is Kantar Media Audience’s role in the people meters project?

MANSOOR KHAN: Let me first very briefly introduce Kantar Media; it is a part of the Kantar Group which is the research, consultancy and insight arm of WPP. Kantar Media has three core areas of global business leadership; Cross Media, Media Intelligence and Audience Measurement (audiences). All of our global people meters projects fall within our Audiences entity, where the area of expertise and focus is on electronic measurement of any viewing or listening wherever and however it is consumed. Specifically in terms of viewing, we no longer think of television as the TV set; the context is broader, perhaps not so much in this part of the world, but certainly in more developed markets, television is no longer thought of as viewing on a TV set only, it can be on any device. And the de facto technology for TV audience measurement around the world is the people meters.

A: What changes has Kantar’s involvement brought to the people meters project in Pakistan?

MK: The industry in Pakistan has accepted that if there is going to be credible audience measurement in the country, they will have to use the de facto international standard. Gallup were the first to introduce people meters in Pakistan. However, they needed a pilot panel and it didn’t move forward. In 2007 an official tender was made by the industry, pushed primarily by the Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS) and all the heavyweights came in and pitched, including TNS (as we were then called), Nielsen, Kantar and Medialogic, which at the time was an unknown entity. Medialogic was selected and they then partnered with Gfk to bring in the technology to run the people meters. Today, however, the media landscape of Pakistan is changing and becoming technologically more advanced. Basically, people meters identify what channels are watched, for how long and by whom; this data is then relayed to the research centre. The key is identifying the channel and under the current methodology, every channel is identified by a unique frequency, based on the analogue system. However, as the number of channels proliferate and the inexorable drift towards digital broadcasting, the ‘old’ method of identifying the channel with the technology Medialogic had in place would eventually have no longer sufficed. They were looking for the latest technology and for an organisation with a global leadership position in research that they could grow with. This is where we are with them. We are a technology provider to Medialogic and the cutting edge technology we are providing is called the Rapid Meter which uses Kantar Media’s Enhanced AudioMatchingTM channel identification technique; this is an especially innovative technology, because we understand the challenges of doing electronic measurement in a market such as Pakistan.

A: What are those challenges?

MK: First of all, the panel; convincing people to allow a meter to be connected to their TV set is quite a challenge. For many people TV is a prized possession – and with the previous technology you had to take the back off the TV set and insert wires. Then there is the aspect of compliance. Most households in Pakistan have an extended family set-up, and a key aspect of the people meter is to identify who in the home is watching what and when. There is a special handset and every time someone in the household watches a programme they have to log in – and then log out when they stop watching. Yet, to be effective the technology has to be seamless in the home, and the technology we have introduced is completely non-intrusive and user friendly. It is actually near enough to plug and play. In terms of user friendliness, especially for panellists’ when using the handset to register or de-register when viewing or not, we don’t use names and numbers, we use symbols and this makes the technology very easy for people to adapt to. Added to this, unlike the old technology where the data transfer was done through the phone socket, ours uses GPRS data collection technology, so no wires in the home and making the transfer instantaneous. Added to these obvious benefits comes the support that Kantar Media gives. We just don’t license technology out; that is easy to do. Our name is at stake; we operate in over 60 global markets and we consider ourselves world leaders in this; we invented the people meter. So, if we are going to give it to Medialogic, we have to make sure that they are able to set it up to the standards we believe should be in place. And more importantly that it delivers what the industry wants, which is credible ratings data that they will accept as currency. Currency is the ultimate aim – and for currency to exist, you need to gain the acceptance of all stakeholders and you do that by ensuring that the technology producing the data is working optimally and benefits the country it is being used in.

A: Who actually processes the data?

MK: The core of a Television Audience Measurement (TAM) panel is not the people meters or the data collection. It is the Establishment Survey and this was conducted in 2013-14 by TNS Aftab in order to understand the viewing environment in Pakistan. As part of the process, an independent auditor was brought in from outside to ensure that everything was being done as per international standards. It was only after this that the panel was recruited, based on robust statistical sampling methodology. In terms of processing the data, that is completely done by Medialogic. However, we have an understanding with them that we will assess quality standards because they are using our TAM ‘backbone’ system, which is called ComTel. Everything is provided by Kantar, not only the meters, but the back office production system as well as the reporting system that provides the data for clients; this is all Kantar from beginning to end, so it is in our vested interest to ensure these systems are operating optimally. And most importantly the data is sealed. Medialogic is using the same system we use in the UK and other markets around the world.

Currency is the ultimate aim – and for currency to exist, you have to gain the acceptance of all stakeholders

A: In the model currently deployed in Pakistan, the data is owned by Medialogic and not the industry. Is this usually the norm?

MK: Unlike some other countries where you have Joint Industry Committees (JICs) which own the data – because they underwrite and pay for the service – in Pakistan, Medialogic owns the data. This model by the way is quite common in many other countries, although the weakness here is that because it is not industry committee controlled, there can be question marks about how credible the data is. Having said this, you have the same type of model in India, the Philippines and in many European countries. The model works when a credible research entity is in partnership with the TAM service provider. In the past, Medialogic were on their own; today they have a more symbiotic relationship with Kantar and there is cross checking of standards and procedures. There has been a complete refit of the ‘engine’, so to speak; meters, processing system and reporting system are all Kantar. We know how sealed and secure our system is and we have given the license to Medialogic to use it.

A: One of the criticisms levelled at the people meters project here is that the sample size is too small and therefore unrepresentative, although I understand it has now gone from nine to twenty cities and from 675 to over 1,000 households. Do you think this criticism is valid?

MK: Sample size could be relevant, but at this moment in time you go with what the country can afford and what are you measuring right now. It all depends on what you want to report. If you want to report on a demographic niche group you will need to have a bigger sample in order to have lesser variations and more robust data. India’s population is a billion plus, which is five times greater than Pakistan’s, yet their panel is about 7,000 to 8,000 homes, while in Pakistan it stands at 1,000. Everyone wants bigger, because with bigger you get more granular and specific data and you can do more detailed drill down analysis. To have a bigger sample, to go into more cities and the rural areas requires that the industry support this venture, and this in turn requires money from them. There has to be a concerted stakeholder approach. The key is for the industry to decide what they want to measure and then how they want to get there. There is no doubt affordability is a key factor. And we have to be clear here; you can have only one TAM provider in a country, this is a monopoly; an established and accepted monopoly – you cannot have ‘two state banks of Pakistan’, you can only have the one, because that is the currency which all stakeholders will buy and sell on. The same logic applies to media; we are producing a currency called ratings, based on which the industry buys and sells airtime, and you need one reference point, because if you have more than one, there will be chaos. Obviously, there is room for improvement, the service will evolve and we are closely assessing and refining it because we don’t exist in a static environment. Channels are coming in, the technology that delivers broadcast content is changing and we no longer think of television viewing as viewing on the TV set. Countries like Pakistan are emerging markets and they go through step changes very quickly unlike established markets where it is more a question of climbing an upward slope. Yet, whatever happens in those established markets will ultimately happen here and much more quickly. Countries like Pakistan will be going through dynamic step changes and the industry needs reassurance that whatever changes are taking place in the broadcasting environment, there is trust in the entity that is providing this data. The TV industry has entrusted Medialogic which in turn has got that reassurance from Kantar because of our reputation, experience and unparalleled heritage.

A: Pakistan apart, how relevant is the TV set in today’s world?

MK: In my view TV is still very relevant; it is still a super medium, not only in Pakistan, but in other markets as well. Let’s look at a country like the UK, which is at the digital frontline; according to Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, 88% of audiences still watch live TV. They also looked at the percentage of people who use time shift, i.e. record a programme to watch later, and according to the data, within a period of eight to 28 days, there was only a 1.5% increase in viewing on a time shift basis. Furthermore, only 1.8% of people are viewing TV on devices other than their TV set. Now, if this is true of the UK, we can be pretty confident of what is happening in this part of the world, although there is no denying that digital is going to be even more pervasive in our lives. For sure, video consumption is at an all time high, but the interesting thing is that according to a 48-country TAM study over a span of 20 years, average TV viewing time has actually increased by 43 minutes; the average viewing per individual per day now stands at three hours and 53 minutes, something that will make a lot of broadcasters happy, because TV is still a good medium to advertise on. In money terms in 2012, £252 billion went to the TV industry globally, and the year on year growth is about 4.5%, which is very healthy. In the early 80s, TV ad expenditure globally was around the 30% share mark; today it has stabilised at the 40% mark and accounts for about $200 billion in money terms, which is far greater than any other medium.

A: Apart from the people meter project in Pakistan, is Kantar Media looking at initiating any other projects?

MK: We are exploring the opportunities as we are interested in any sort of audience measurement. There are many forms of media consumption taking place in Pakistan and we are interested in how this can be best utilised in providing insights to the industry. There are a lot of exciting developments happening because we operate in a digitally and technologically evolving landscape and Pakistan is a key market.

Mansoor Khan was in conversation with Mariam Ali Baig.
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