Hybrid TV measurement system: Mediapulse invited to launch event

On June 2, Mediapulse celebrated its own development. After six months of parallel operation, the TV industry gathered to conclude the joint project, share experiences with the new data and toast the changeover on July 1, 2022.

Mediapulse CEO Tanja Hackenbruch opened the event with a tour d'horizon of the development period: from the first declarations of intent in 2014 to the actual project launch under Tanja Hackenbruch and Mirko Marr. Tanja Hackenbruch said she was proud of this in-house development. She also reviewed the intensive cooperation with various parties and thanked the service providers Genistat (programming/modeling) and Kantar (panel operator), the data partners Swisscom and Sunrise (formerly UPC), the broadcasters and marketers for their broad cooperation, Bakom for its constant support and, of course, the project managers at Mediapulse, Mirko Marr and Andreas Thaller, as well as the entire Mediapulse team.

Then representatives of the Swiss market presented their views on the new TV currency. First, Andrea Haemmerli, Managing Director Seven.One Entertainment Group Schweiz AG, spoke about Hi-Res TV Data from a broadcaster's point of view. She was pleased about the granular values for program planning and the increase in stability in the data.

Next, Frank Zelger, CEO Admeira, spoke about Hi-Res TV Data from a marketer's perspective. He welcomed the introduction of the new currency, but stressed the importance of reliable daily implementation in the operational business. And finally, Michael Selz, Managing Partner Insights & Strategy at OMG Switzerland, brought in the agency perspective on Hi-Res TV Data. He was convinced that the new currency will help the medium of TV. This through more stable values for peak target groups and a clear proof of performance throughout the day.

This was followed by independent experts from Germany and abroad. Prof. Dr. Beat Hulliger from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, who accompanied the project as an external expert, presented statistical aspects of the hybridization of TV research. Hulliger considers the implemented solution as an optimal compromise between methodological and operational challenges. Laurence Deléchapt, Directrice TV et Cross Médias Médiamétrie (FRA), highlighted the approach of Médiamétrie in France as a comparison: panel and return path data: hybridization as an answer to the question of fragmentation. She admires Switzerland for its courage and determination to introduce the new currency on a broad basis.

This broad survey not only showed that the hybrid TV measurement system has already arrived in Switzerland and is widely accepted in the market - by broadcasters, marketers and agencies. It also showed that the approach meets the requirements of scientificity but also of economy and efficiency. And it ultimately confirmed that while similar approaches are also being pursued in many countries, Switzerland may take the pioneering role. This world premiere was subsequently celebrated until the early hours.

Tanja Hackenbruch, CEO Mediapulse: "I am very proud that after long, hard work we can now write research history. The fact that so many different market players have joined forces is unprecedented. In this way, we have been able to create an integrative force as a bridge builder and have made innovation possible. This makes me happy and I would like to sincerely thank all those involved."

Mirko Marr, Head of Research Mediapulse: "As a media researcher, it's not every day that you get the task of building the world's first hybrid TV measurement system with daily data production. And the risk of failing at this task is enormous. But twice improbable does not mean impossible. That's why we'd like to use today's event to thank all those who either gave us the job or saved us from failure."

New TV measurement system: Higher granularity of data

The hybrid TV measurement system increases the granularity of TV usage data. In other words, it does not draw a new picture, but increases the resolution. The advantages are twofold: First, it can reduce the amount of so-called "zero blocks", i.e. advertising blocks whose usage is so low that it cannot be mapped by previous panel research. Second, the granular usage data also provides small stations with detailed usage patterns as a basis for analysis in program planning.

This project is based on data from around 160,000 set-top boxes from Swisscom and Sunrise (UPC). The corresponding set-top boxes are drawn as a random sample and renewed on an ongoing basis. This data provides a second-by-second picture of TV usage in the households behind the set-top boxes. Since information about the people in these households and their TV use is not available for reasons of data protection, this data is modeled using a method developed by Mediapulse. The TV measurement panel operated by Kantar and the socio-demographic data collected with it serve as a basis. The result is a large reservoir of so-called virtual panelists. The hybrid TV measurement system is now created by enriching the existing TV measurement panel with the usage information of around 15,000 virtual panelists from this reservoir. Mediapulse thus has a hybrid panel of around 20,000 real and virtual panelists, whose TV usage data is collected daily and extrapolated to the TV universe.