Family succession saga Legacy ends on M-Net in September this year after a two season stint.
But of course you know this news
if you got the memo late last year. When M-Net first announced the show's cancellation they mentioned they were ending it because of viewer surveys.
Flashback to this quote in the press statement by Nomsa Philiso, Executive Head: Programming, MultiChoice Group:
“Our viewership surveys guide us to adapt our content to the evolving needs of our customers.
Whilst Legacy is a popular show, our M-Net 101 customers have indicated that they now want more limited series rather than long-running telenovelas.
The success of our local strategy depends on how well we tune into what our customers would like to see on their screens."
This piqued our interest because we hadn't heard of the surveys before. Also, TVSA member
SipheleleMzingi asked us about them so we went on a mission to get the inside info on what they are exactly and what influence they have on programming.
We posed our questions to MultiChoice and this is what they told us:
TVSA: Where are these surveys run?
MultiChoice: We have a live viewership panel operated and managed by an external 3rd Party (Kantar) and viewing data is delivered daily for in-depth analysis on the content on DStv.
TVSA: Who participates in them?
MultiChoice: The panel consists of a representative base of our subscribers.
TVSA: How often do they happen?
MultiChoice: Ongoing measurement of viewing from this panel, data is collected and processed daily.
TVSA: How many people participate in them?
MultiChoice: It is a representative sample of our subscriber base.
TVSA: What types of questions are they asked?
MultiChoice: This is a passive panel. The viewing data is collected via software in the decoder (all with the consent of the subscriber).
TVSA: How many people need to express a particular opinion for the channel to take action and make a change based on a survey or surveys?
MultiChoice: We ensure that the viewing panel is always representative of the subscriber base. Monitoring of content and channel performance is ongoing so that any changes in viewing behaviour and/or content preference are identified early for action.
From daily viewing data we are able to get a clear idea of the content preferences of our subscribers, across demographics and packages.
The data shows that in this market the appetite for limited series and procedurals is higher than that for telenovelas.
TVSA: How can viewers get onto the panel if they wish to be part of it? How are participants selected?
MultiChoice: We recruit the panel via random sampling. We set the quotas by package (i.e. how many HHs we need from each package in order to make the panel representative of our base) and then pull subs lists by package, based on specific criteria (e.g. Has to be a full paying subscriber not staff or VIP, has to be a single unit dwelling as opposed to a shared subscription in a dorm, complex, etc, no commercial subscribers etc.).
Kantar manage this recruitment process for us - they take the lists and call subscribers to recruit them onto the panel. Panellists’ are incentivised to be on the panel as is the norm with all research.