TAMS COUNCIL MINUTES 11 AUGUST 2011

Association Incorporated under Section 21 Reg. No. 73/1617208

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SAARF TAMS COUNCIL HELD ON THURSDAY 11AUGUST AT 14:30 AT THE SAARF OFFICES, 54 QUEENS ROAD, BRYANSTON

1.  PRESENT

The following council members were present at the meeting:

Barry Lamont / Lorna Long
Brenda Wortley / Martin Urry
Candice Ulrich / Mpho Mokone
Chris Eyre / Nash Jaikharan
Clive Corder / Pam Pillay
Damir Adamovich / Paul Haupt
Errol Burrows / Pierre van der Hoven
Gillian Siluma / Tiffany Tracey
Janet Proudfoot / Thomas Mukundi
Jean Meyer

Apologies were recorded for the following council members:

Angy Hammond / Mary Lelibana
Bridgette Hector / Michelle Boehme
Hank Bento / Sifiso Nyoni
Janet Watermeyer / Sue Scott
Jennifer Daniel / Ursula Shikhati
Lisa Botha

The following members were absent without apology:

Amarendra Rath / Kami Pregaladhan
Anton Haupt / Lerlynn Lee
Candice Ruskstuhl / Mandisa Nkwanyana
Cobie van Jaarsveld / Melinda Naicker
Elke Cathrall / Sunel Prinsloo
Heather Kennedy / Tshifhiwa Mulaudzi

The following members are copied in on the minutes: Johan Koster and Christoph Limmer.

2.  APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 14 JULY 2011:

The minutes of the 14 July 2011 meeting were approved by the Council and signed by the chair.

3.  FINALISING OF THE AGENDA

The following point was added under AOB:

·  Timing for next universe update

4.  TIME SHIFTED VIEWING (PVR)-incl. weighting to it

(See presentation on the website)

The universe update was implemented as of 1 August 2011. The TopTV/Non TopTV RIM has been added to the current HH RIMS. TopTV is currently recording in total. There has been a slight decrease in DStv ratings in line with what was expected.

SAARF will send a notification to software houses to release TopTV data to the industry. Currently it needs to be checked that it will meet the sample criteria i.e. that 60 viewers will be measured over three consecutive weeks.

The Council was shown data from the first week of the update showing both percentages and thousands, excluding PVR vs. including PVR. Because only data from the new universe was used, a consolidated viewing analysis could not be provided as time shifted viewing will only be available in a weeks time.

When PVR data is added, ratings for free to air channels dropped a little, while ratings for DSTV channels were stable. In the previous analyses, when PVR data was excluded, ratings for free to air channels went up and DSTV ratings went down. By including the PVR homes in the analysis, this is reversed.

In the next meeting, AGB Nielsen will present statistical significance level results on PVR data to the council.

Meter Tests

AGB Nielsen was requested to conduct tests on the two meters’ functionality. Two test environments were set up to see if the TVM5 and Unitam measure live viewing the same under different conditions in order to verify that the meters are measuring live viewing correctly. The two meters use different technologies to measure viewing: the TVM5 uses banner recognition while the Unitam uses audio referencing. It should be noted that TVM5 meters are not used in PVR homes.

·  Test 1

The test was done in lab conditions acting as a non PVR, DStv home. Both meters measured viewing the same, however the TVM5 recognised the channel approximately 5 seconds after the Unitam meter.

·  Test 2

The test was conducted in lab conditions acting as a PVR, DStv home. The Unitam could recognise trick functions, like pause and fast forward but the TVM5 could not. However, live viewing was recorded the same on both meters.

Panel Management in PVR Households

In addition to the above tests, compliance checks were conducted on panel members in PVR households. This ensured that compliance in the PVR is on a par with the rest of the panel. PVR households had higher levels of uncovered viewing. It was discovered that this could be due to the fact that they have many TV sets and turn on one other while watching another TV set, or were simply not logging in.

5.  PANEL STATUS AND VIEWING TRENDS

(See presentation on the website)

There are currently 1705 households in total installed: 607 are satellite, of which 102 are PVR and 42 are Top TV.

The 1375 reporting households are relatively stable.

6.  DELIVERY OF OVERNIGHT DATA

The problem with releasing programme and spot data separately is with resolving the material flighting code. AGB Nielsen suggests that it would be best to do away with flighting codes and use the product attribution system they use internally. Another suggestion was that an internal flighting code could be used until the correct one could be allocated.

The flighting code problem is going to be even more complicated as new different formats like HD require a different flighting code for one spot. In the end it was decided that Brenda will take up the issue with the NAB. There is a possibility of using an internet-based software database that assigns unique flighting codes.

7.  AOB

·  Timing for next universe update

A timeline for the next universe update will be provided at the next Council meeting.

8.  NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 8 September 2011 at 14:30.

Signed as a true record of the meeting this ….…… day of ……………………………….. 2011.

......

CHAIR

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Directors: L Benjamin; S F du Plessis (Chair); G Garden; M Grauman; P Haupt (Dr) (CEO); N F Holdsworth;

V M Hollis (Vice Chair); J Meyer; M Moore; C O’Neil; L Siso (Vice Chair); T Stafford; B Williamson