MDA to create singular TV audience metrics system

The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) is looking to create a single unified audience measurement currency for TV. This includes the audiences garnered for TV across desktop, smartphone and tablets to access TV.It has appointed GfK for three years, with a two-year renewal option to run the project. This followed an open tender for a research firm to do this. Singapore will get an integrated measurement system that will include the complete audience for traditional television, as well as those using computers, smartphones and tablets to access TV and video content, said the MDA. First reports are expected to be out by 2016.The government body said that while TV ratings systems in Singapore had focused mainly on FTA channels, it was seeking to create a unified system for a more robust analysis of TV audience measurements.Meanwhile, Nielsen said it was “extremely disappointed to have been overlooked by the Singapore Media Development Authority in its appointment of a television and cross-platform audience measurement provider”.The research firm was also in the tender for this project, but was not chosen.“We maintain our total commitment to the Singapore market. We will continue to invest in expanding and evolving our comprehensive suite of world-class audience measurement solutions to provide our clients with the most in-depth understanding of the shifting media habits of Singaporean audiences,” said Nielsen in its comment to Marketing.GfK will set up a system for the integrated analysis of the complete audience for TV in Singapore called the Singapore Television Audience Measurement (SG-TAM). This will include traditional linear television, as well as time-delayed television and TV video streaming on computers and mobile devices.The service will be based on a single-source panel of more than 1,000 households. The service provided to the MDA will form a single source of currency for the media industry.Broadcasters, producers and advertisers will now have access to audience consumption data across a full range of media platforms – free-to-air TV, pay-TV channels, over-the-top streaming platforms, online and mobile channels.Additionally, it will enable programme content to be optimised and advertising campaigns to be strategically planned, supported by GfK’s analytical software.A MDA spokesperson explained that one of the aims of SG-TAM was to make data accessible to key stakeholders such as broadcasters, platform and content owners, advertisers and content producers, who can use the data for their business decisions.Data distribution will be managed and licensed to different users based on the different tiers of data and type of data required. Broadcasters will be able to access the data on a subscription basis.Kenneth Tan, MDA’s assistant CEO (assessment and corporate), said: “Media consumption habits are rapidly evolving. We are the first national public agency in the world to take the lead in commissioning a multi-platform audience measurement system to provide an independent and representative currency as a public good.”Lee Risk, commercial director of media for APAC at GfK, said: “Today, consumers’ lives are digital, and consumers use media on a wide variety of devices. That’s why an integrated analysis is essential for advertisers.”Image: Shutterstock