Nielsen Co (Thailand) is calling on the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to treat it fairly after the regulator approved in principle a 370-million-baht budget for an official TV ratings company.
The media research and TV ratings company on Monday sent a letter to the NBTC requesting an explanation about the financial assistance to be given to the Media Agency Association of Thailand (MAAT) and the Media Research Bureau (MRB) for the establishment of an official TV ratings company.
London-based Kantar Media was recently chosen by the MRB to be the official TV ratings agency for the Thai broadcasting industry.
Kantar is expected to challenge Nielsen's 30-year dominance in the country.
"It would be unfair if the regulator helped only the new TV ratings company. Some digital channels including Channel 7 won't switch to using information from it," said Sinthu Peatrarut, Nielsen Thailand's managing director for media client leadership.
Not all digital channels are MRB members, so those channels will not be able to obtain ratings information from Kantar, he said.
That also means those channels will not receive financial assistance from the NBTC for ratings.
"The regulator should ask whether they [TV channels] want to change," Mr Sinthu said.
Nielsen Thailand’s Sinthu Peatrarut is asking why the NBTC is funding a separate, official TV ratings company.
"In my view, the broadcasting industry will not have fair competition if all 24 digital channels cannot access ratings information equally."
The MRB was formed by a number of leading digital and satellite TV operators and major media agencies.
They want a new ratings agency because they are doubtful about the accuracy of ratings done by Nielsen, the dominant company.
The NBTC has thrown its support behind the MAAT and MRB to self-regulate TV ratings and establish an official ratings agency.
Kantar won the bidding to provide TV ratings to 24 digital channels and media agencies for 15 years.
During the first five years, it will spend 1.5 billion baht to lay down the ratings measurement system and install ratings panels in 30,000 households nationwide.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith expects Kantar will start providing service by September 2016.
Ratings will be conducted on a multiscreen basis covering TVs, PCs, smartphones and tablets.
TV channel operators and media agencies will pay 9-10 million baht a year to for ratings information from Kantar.
The MRB earlier said the sample size for TV ratings to be carried by Kantar would be 5,000 households, far bigger than Nielsen's 2,200 households.
But Nielsen's Mr Sinthu pointed out that setting up a ratings measurement system would take time, and selecting a sample size of 5,000 households nationwide would not be easy.
Moreover, measuring TV ratings on PCs, smartphones and tablets will be very complicated, he said.
Mr Sinthu said Nielsen was trying to improve its service by partnering with Facebook to measure digital ad ratings on digital media channels.
"We're responding to our clients that want to know how their ad campaigns are reaching online customers," Mr Sinthu said.
"Many campaigns are now on both TV and online media, as consumers like digital media, particularly younger people."