Since the work from home (WFH) policy and the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) were imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, TV viewership has increased by an average 12 percent.
By
TOPAN YUNIARTO
·7 minutes read
Kompas
A live broadcast of soccer in European leagues can be enjoyed easily by the Indonesian people through paid television services. Based on Nielsen\'s observations, in the past 10 years, the television programs that were watched the most by viewers were sports broadcasts, especially soccer.
During the month of Ramadan, the most watched television programs are those broadcast before the breaking-of-the-fast at dusk and the predawn meal. Program ratings are calculated according to number of viewers, viewership demographics, share, and other factors. However, these figures do not necessarily represent the program’s quality.
The latest Nielsen ratings (12/5/2020) note a change in media consumption among viewers. Since the work from home (WFH) policy and the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) were imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, TV viewership has increased by an average 12 percent compared to pre-pandemic figures.
Interestingly, a higher increase of 14 percent in TV viewing duration to 5 hours and 46 minutes was recorded for viewers in the upper class. This fact refutes the long-held assumption that upper-class viewers had abandoned television for the digital mediums.
Nielsen’s data indicates a higher trend in TV viewership during Ramadan this year compared to previous years. This has been attributed to several factors, including the quadrupling of viewers (+372 percent) from the hours of the predawn meal to morning (2 a.m.-5:59 a.m.), and during the five hours before the breaking-of-the-fast meal (4 p.m.-7 p.m.). The increase in viewers spans all age brackets, with a significant rise among children and teenagers (ages 10-14).
A change in the types of programs has also been found during the WFH period and Ramadan. When the WFH policy was first imposed, viewers watched serials and the news more frequently, while during the fasting month they have continued to watch more serials while also watching more entertainment, religious and educational programs.
A Ramadan sermon is delivered by religious figure Muhammad Quraish Shihab via YouTube channel Narasi TV on Tuesday (28/4/2020). Some citizens in Indonesia are accessing the virtual program from home during large-scale social restrictions.
Accountability
TV ratings should be accountable to the broadcasting industry as well as the public. So far, the public has no knowledge of who sits on a TV rating agency’s panel. The classic reason a ratings firm gives is that they are protecting the panel members’ identities.
The word “rating” appeared for the first time in a state of the nation address on 14 Aug. 2015, at the annual session of the People’s Consultative Assembly in Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo delivered the address to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.
President Jokowi acknowledged the criticism at a meeting with television media executives at Merdeka Palace on 21 Aug. 2015, saying that the criticism was directed at the many TV programs that were not educational and not worth watching for children.
Jokowi was not criticizing news programs, but rather TV serial dramas and entertainment programs. The President’s statement raised concerns about the content of broadcasting media, especially television, and indicated that ratings could be affecting media content.
Many TV programs were not educational and not worth watching for children.
In Indonesia, only Nielsen has provided data on TV viewership. The media research and analysis firm gathered viewer data in 11 cities (Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Medan, Palembang, Makassar and Banjarmasin).
A sample behavior of viewers at home was taken from peoplemeters, which record data when viewers push a button on devices like remote controls that identifies them (father, mother, child).
A woman passes in front of a wall decorated with murals about television programs on Jalan Perjuangan, Cirebon City, West Java, Wednesday (6/1/2015).
Peoplemeters record information about who is watching what program over a 24-hour period from 2 a.m. to 2 a.m., and the data is sent via the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network to Nielsen’s server for processing and analysis.
The viewership data is then sent to television stations at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. or on a weekly basis, depending on the subscription package of the TV station, production house or advertiser.
The problem with ratings
A 2015-2016 study by the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) Jakarta made an interesting finding about ratings. A mistaken view has prevailed that the ratings problem in Indonesia was due to the monopoly of the ratings provider (Nielsen).
From this view, the oft-raised solution to Indonesia’s ratings problem is to “expand” the ratings data so end-users have several alternative datasets.
This is an erroneous interpretation for two reasons. First, a monopoly occurs in many countries, not just in Indonesia. A monopoly emerges because the market of data users is relatively small, enabling the emergence of one data provider. Second, data users (TV stations, advertisers and advertising bureaus) do want a single dataset to avoid confusion.
Ratings data is like a currency that is used by different parties, and a single dataset is needed for them to share the same “language”. Data from a single ratings provider is seen to avoid confusion among users.
KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI
Analyst staff monitor national television broadcasts in the Direct Monitoring Analysis Room of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) in Jakarta on Wednesday (1/8/2018).
The problem with the viewership ratings is not the monopolization of the field, but rather the transparency and accountability of the data. The ratings provider must be open about how the ratings are gauged.
The method should also be accountable. By applying the principles of data transparency and accountability, data users and the public will trust the ratings data.
Unchecked speculation about the method of data collection and data use can be minimized. The problem is that the Own Services (OS) audience measurement system used in Indonesia today has its weaknesses. OS is the oldest audience measurement system since media ratings began.
The ratings data is provided by a professional research company or an institute that specializes in ratings data. The company gathers TV viewership data and then sells the data to parties that need them, like TV stations, advertisers, advertising bureaus, and production houses.
This system relies on the data provider’s awareness in guaranteeing transparency and accountability. How can the public trust the ratings data if no information has been on the panel members, their locations, socioeconomic backgrounds and professions?
The way to guarantee that the data provider meets the principles of transparency and accountability is to hold an external audit. An audit by an external party can ascertain that the data provider has conducted proper ratings processing and analysis
Since this refers a party external to the ratings provider, the results of the audit will be more trustable. The party to conduct this external audit is a ratings council that undertakes the audit on behalf of the data users, so the audit results will be binding for both the ratings provider and the data users.
Kompas
Residents watch television shows at their home in Pondok Karya, South Tangerang, Tuesday (23/6/2015). A survey by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) in March-April 2015 found that several television programs on a number of television stations were of low quality.
The rating councils of many countries are formed by industries or the end users of the ratings data. The American and British rating councils were originally founded by Congress or parliament to bridge the differing interests between members of the industry. After their founding, however, these rating councils became independent (autonomous), free of state influence. Their membership, activities and funding are drawn purely from the industry (ratings data users).
Only soccer programs seem to have fulfilled the dream of having quality broadcasts with good ratings. National and European League soccer broadcasts always have excellent ratings. Even soccer matches between Asean countries occupy the top ratings due to viewers’ emotional ties to the Indonesian national team.
This is unlike the news programs aired by TV news stations. The TV ratings for news programs have always been must lower than the ratings for entertainment programs. It can be said that if 15 TV stations are rated, news stations will occupy the 11th to 15th ratings rankings, while entertainment stations will fill the top ten rankings.
Television content is part of popular culture, and culture is part of the national identity.
The question is whether comparing news and entertainment broadcasters is appropriate, since viewers can change the channel within seconds to suit their tastes. There is no difference in the frequency news and entertainment broadcasters use, because they both use UHF.
If TV dramas generally have high ratings despite their inferior content and message, it should be asked whether this truly reflects our society or the profit-making interests of the broadcasting industry and the ratings provider.
Television content is part of popular culture, and culture is part of the national identity. As such, the criteria for culture should not be determined by referring only to business statistics; the quality of cultural content is far more important to develop the minds of the nation’s future generations. The time has come for TV stations to start producing educational and quality programs without relying solely on ratings.
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