Hong Kong’s TVB, ViuTV and advertising agencies to launch all-encompassing audience survey
They want to measure all forms of content viewing, including digital platforms such as mobile phones and tablets
Hong Kong free-to-air broadcasters and the advertising industry will launch a new audience survey to better reflect the latest market developments and viewers’ behaviour as more people migrate from traditional television to digital platforms for content.
The new ratings survey called the Hong Kong Total Audience Measurement, jointly launched by TVB, new player ViuTV and the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong (HK4As), is scheduled for launch in 2018 and will run for five years, the South China Morning Post has learned.
READ MORE: Battle stations: the heavy hitters who will transform Hong Kong’s stagnant TV industry
The survey will replace the existing Television Audience Measurement by including viewers’ online behaviour.
Four research companies would bid for the job, said Ray Wong, chairman of the survey’s founding subscriber committee. He said the tendering process was already under way.
“It’s not about sitting at home in front of the TV set any more,” said Wong, who is CEO of media agency PHD, a member of the HK4As. “People are watching shows and video content on digital platforms and mobile devices.”
Wong said TV commercials were powerful but were not limited to just television. “Free TV is only one of the many channels today. There are online, mobile and outdoor television,” he said.
“We are already doing multi-screen measurements but in future we hope to measure frequencies and behaviour on social media such as Facebook and YouTube, as they carry video ads too. This is why we are calling the new survey ‘total audience measurement’, as it’s no longer about television only.”