Two-stage TAMS release

Though it is important to implement both changes as quickly as possible in order to ensure that TAMS is up to date and representative of today's realities, the council has taken a decision to implement the changes separately so that the impact of each change can be understood and not clouded by too many things happening simultaneously.

Introduction of PVR homes and time-shifted viewing

On 19 December 2011, 357 000 PVR homes will be added to the TAMS universe. Total TV homes will increase by 3.3% whilst DStv homes will show a 13% increase.

Historically TAMS has attributed viewership behaviour based on standard decoder homes to represent the total DStv platform (including PVR homes). This was acceptable whilst the PVR incidence was low, it has however grown rapidly over the past couple of years and it is now necessary to measure PVR homes as a separate sub-sample within TAMS. As a first step the DStv PVR universe was removed from TAMS in August 2011 update as a necessary first step to bring PVR and time-shift measurement into the system in December.

Overall, it anticipates live viewing ratings amongst DStv adults to drop by 4%. Once time-shifted viewing is included (seven day consolidated), viewing is anticipated to be 1-2% lower than today's published live. As PVR homes are mostly on the Premium bouquet, it anticipates a greater impact on Premium channels. The new PVR homes in the sample have an English language bias, are more affluent and are lighter/more discerning TV viewers than non PVR DStv viewers.

Channel summary

• Afrikaans skewed channels tend to show slight decreases in viewing once the PVR sample and universe are included, because this sub-group is more English in profile.
  
• Time-shifting is more prevalent on M*Net, M*Net Series and Movies 1 and 2 and Vuzu.
  
• Very little time-shifted viewing occurs on the News and Sports channels.
  
• Other general entertainment channels such as Universal, Sony do not have a significant amount of time-shifted viewing at a broad level. However, as the research dives deeper into the data, expectations are there will be much more variation at a programme level.
  
• Off a low base, there are indications that channels such as MTV and Discovery HD Showcase have above average time-shifted viewing.

These changes are significant for the industry and must be viewed as a 'step change' in tracking data. It will be difficult to trend universes and audiences across the last six months of 2011, where two major changes have occurred in the TAMS database and what is finally implemented on 19 December is in essence a reconstructed panel. Consolidated seven day viewing will become the TAMS currency as it moves into 2012 and the industry familiarises itself with the new viewing metrics and the various ways analyses can be built.

TAMS universe update (AMPS 2011a)

The AMPS 11a six monthly TAMS universe will result in a further shift in measured viewing as a result of the ongoing growth of the DStv subscriber base and in particular compact subscribers. The representation of DStv against all TAMS adults moves from 25% to 29%.

The sequence of universe changes is as follows:

• Of the average daily TVRs DStv will now take 22% of national adults, 12% of LSM 5-7 adults (up from 10%) , and 52% of LSM 8-10 (up from 49%)
  
• Performance against LSM 8-10 at an individual channel level shows stable to modest growth. However against an LSM 5-7 market, the DStv channels on average show a 19% growth in TVRs. The strong performers are Africa Magic, Mzansi, Sony and SuperSport4.

Finally, it is important that the industry is cognisant of these changes and continues to plan DStv using sound planning practices ie using break ratings and ensuring DStv sample sizes within TAMS are robust and stable.