Today we received this question from long-time TVSA member
max85 in relation to the latest
TAMS July report:
Well a storm is brewing with the figures of Being Bonang reality show .the executive producer Legend Manqele says the figures are false .he has the real ones .he says the show has huge numbers for VuzuAmp .the highest ever .it seems also Harvest producer is not happy with the number .cz she is liking everything questioning the validity of this ratings .TVsa whats the truth ....are we getting different figures as compared to those channels get ?
This is our answer:
The situation highlights the problem with the current set-up of the TAMS. There is no third party, independent authority or organisation who can verify the numbers.
This is one of the things we were so critical about
The day the TAMS died. Before the Broadcast Research Council (BRC) took over the TAMS, the ratings used to be managed by the organisation SAARF, who were the custodians of the TAMS.
SAARF oversaw the management of the TAMS as an objective third party for the industry players (broadcasters and advertisers) but now it's all done by the BRC, which only consists of the broadcasters.
If SAARF were still involved, we could have contacted them to ask what's happening with Being Bonang and they would have told us what the numbers are, without any influence from anyone - no broadcasters, no producers etc.
But that's impossible now and it's resulted in this situation where the BRC report says one thing and a producer says another, which raises the question: who is the most trustworthy to ask?
max85: "are we getting different figures as compared to those channels get ?"
They should be the same because the BRC is the only organisation in the country distributing the numbers. But we can't confirm if they're the same because you have to pay thousands and thousands to get the reports the channels are getting.
This is how it works when it comes to what the channels get:
The BRC works with Nielsen to gather and organise the TAMS data.
This data is packaged into software programmes, which the broadcasters pay for.
In the case of DStv, they have two different reporting systems, which you see in the monthly reports:
- The first set of numbers reflect the national, standard report i.e. DStv's performance in relation to the free-to-air channels. This reflects the overall South African TV landscape.
- The second is specifically for DStv, as if the free-to-air broadcasters don't exist. This is why you'll see that the DStv shows have two numbers in the monthly reports:
e.g. Our Perfect Wedding in July has the two viewership figures of 1,467,000 and 1,846,252.
The second is always higher than the first because it's inflated by the fact that it only takes the DStv universe into account. You can't compare this number with the numbers for SABC1, 2 etc. because it's a different playing field so it's like comparing apples to oranges if you compare them.
This means that a DStv show or channel could potentially quote this second number as being "The official viewership" but it wouldn't be accurate to do this unless they clarify that it's based on the DStv universe only and not the overall South African TV universe.
Ultimately it's the lack of transparency from the BRC that's causing the issues, which is something we warned about when they took over from SAARF.
In the case of Harvest (which hasn't made an appearance on e.tv's Top 20 list)... it could be performing the same as Isidingo or Idols but all anyone can do is speculate and assume that it's tanked in the ratings because of the limitations of the BRC's monthly Top 20 lists. Numerous other shows have been similarly impacted.