Nielsen regains Hong Kong TV audience measurement contract

The tender was released by the the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong (HK4As) and the TAM founding members committee.

Nielsen replaces CSM Media Research, which has held the TAM contract for the past seven years. Nielsen held the business for almost two decades prior to that. 

Twelve members including agency heads from Carat, Media Palette, Initiatives, Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, Mindshare, OMD, PHD, Starcom, UM and ZenithOptimedia, as well as senior members of TVB attended a press conference at the Mira Hotel yesterday.

“This is an unanimous vote by all of our media agency members, as we are all impressed by Nielsen’s presentations and methodologies,” said Ray Wong, CEO of PHD Hong Kong and convenor of the HK4As media committee of 2013-2017 Hong Kong Television Audience Measurement.

“We are proud of the selection of Nielsen as provider of TV ratings for Hong Kong and the trust TV broadcasters, agencies and advertisers have placed in our capabilities,” added Steve Hasker, president, media products and advertiser solutions at Nielsen. “Our global expertise in audience measurement across TV, the internet and mobile will help bring together advertisers, agencies and broadcasters to accelerate the growth of the industry.”

To ensure accurate measurement, Nielsen People Meters will be installed across a panel of 800 households (increased from 600 previously) selected by a statistical design to represent the Hong Kong population.

Nielsen will also pioneer the delivery of 'extended screen' measurement, to include internet viewing of TV programmes within the television ratings to best capture today’s fragmented media environment.

In December 2010, ATV discontinued its involvement in the TV rating partnership and instead hired Robert Chung Ting Yiu, director of the public opinion programme at the University of Hong Kong, to do its TV monitoring. The university research is based on an audience viewing index gathered from a telephone-based survey, covering the TV audience reach only.

TVB is now paying 85 per cent of the fees for its TV rating monitoring survey. “TVB is thrilled and proud to be part of Nielsen’s new television audience measurement service. The larger household panel, coupled with the use of the most advanced technology and the inclusion of online viewing will place Hong Kong’s television market in the forefront of the global television market,” said SK Cheong, general manager of TVB.

Reported in July, CSM Media Research responded to media reports of TV audience measurement tampering accusations using the company's audience measurement panels.