Switzerland Changes Media Measurement System

Michael Hedges April 21, 2007

Switzerland’s broadcasters introduced electronic measurement for radio first in the world nearly a decade ago. The TeleControl system for television measurement is considered a model for counting viewers of the blue glow in living rooms. A new management organization for all media measurement launches, officially, this week.

Joint industry committees (JIC) for media measurement are powerful instruments for establishing the reliable and transparent currency required by broadcasters and advertisers. In the UK RAJAR and BARB and in Spain AIMC have moved carefully into the new measurement world managing, it seems, to increase credibility and protect the integrity of the figures that bear the fruits of media’s labor. Switzerland, on April 1st, became one of the only countries to enshrine such a structure in its media law.

The major international measurement suppliers – Nielsen, Arbitron, GfK, et.al. – prefer avoiding JICs. US broadcasters and advertisers have not empowered joint industry committees for measurement standards, to date, except for the rubber-stamp Media Research Council. Where broadcasters and advertisers are less organized for the protection of measurement currency the will of the suppliers prevails.

The consequence takes effect Tuesday (April 24) as a not-for-profit foundation and separate boards govern Mediapulse –the research supplier – and PublicaData –the marketing service – designed to balance the interests of private sector broadcasters, the public broadcaster and the advertising industry. Radio and television measurement had been under the complete control of public broadcaster SSR-SRG.

Mediapulse descends from the SSR-SRG research department, headed for decades by Matthias Steinmann, principle inventor and proponent of the RadioControl watch and the TeleControl system, now richly retired. PublicaData has existed as a wholly owned subsidiary of SSR-SRG, though the board in recent years included private broadcasters and ad industry representatives. Both companies will have the same president, independent of all member organizations, and 18 member boards comprised of six from SSR-SRG, six from privately owned broadcasting and six from ad sales houses.

Mediapulse will be responsible for research integrity and PublicaData will manage sales of research services. Jürg Bachmann, president of  the Swiss (German) private radio association (Verband der Schweizer Privatradios - VSP) and Managing Director of Radio Energy Zürich, said a “fire wall” will exist between the two.

The real fire wall, negotiated for three years, allowing SSR-SRG to dictate Switzerland’s non-print media sector is somewhat diminished. A serious fumble with data reporting and sampling in 2004 caused some private radio stations to “disappear” and was only reported by PublicaData as an afterthought. Unfortunately for SSR-SRG, the head of the Swiss press association, who, in gentle Swiss terms, blew a gasket to the Federal Council, owned one of the “disappeared” stations. At the very same time the Federal Council was beginning to debate a new radio and television law (LRTV) and all eyes were on limiting the wide scope of SSR-SRG.  Switzerland has one of the lowest rates of non-print ad spending.

By the time the new LRTV reach second reading in the Swiss Parliament it was clear that SSR-SRG – beneficiary of the highest household radio and TV license tax in the world – would need to throw a bone to critics in the private sector, which can barely compete in radio and hardly compete in television. Under the new law, SSR-SRG had to give up certain non-core enterprises. The SSR-SRG research department and PublicaData were sacrificed. SSR-SRG was further punished by a small reduction in its total take from the license tax.

The SSR-SRG deserves credit for investing – considerably – in electronic measurement. It is the mandate of the public sector to invest in innovation that the private sector finds far too risky. Implementing the RadioControl measurement system without full and complete consideration by all stakeholders showed a particular arrogance that serves the public and the public broadcaster poorly. But, it’s time to move on. And the entire Swiss media sector is doing just that.

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