Starting in May, the market will officially work with one agency for the ratings - GARB. This became clear after one of the two most watched TV channels on the Bulgarian market, NOVA (owned by the brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschiev), sent a letter to advertisers, advertising and media agencies announcing that they are terminating the current contract with Nielsen Admosphere Bulgaria and as of next month will start working with GARB.

On this occasion Capital inquired the Chief Executive Officer of bTV Media Group Florian Skala, to comment on how this will affect the market, after for nearly six years it has been working with two audience measurement agencies. The interview was taken by Vessislava Antonova.

How do you take NOVA’s decision to start working with GARB instead of Nielsen Ademosphere, as till now? The picture on the market for long looked like this – bTV was a leader according to GARB, and NOVA were leaders according to Nielsen. It is logical that in view of the change NOVA would claim leadership also according to GARB?

It was absolutely the right step to do. We never understood and supported Nova’s move to an alternative measurement system back in 2014, we found and still find it a wrong decision. Nova didn’t trust GARB back then and raised concerns about GARB’s neutrality and objectivity which remained unanswered due to Nova’s escape to Nielsen. So what has changed since then? Now it’s the time to finally discuss these concerns together, with a 6 years delay, and provide a reliable measurement currency which is universally accepted. Together means to engage all industry stakeholders – broadcasters, agencies and advertisers – in a Joint Industry Committee as it is good practice in many other media markets and needs to be re-established in Bulgaria, too.

What do you think of GARB’s panel? Do you have questions and concerns with regard to it?

You remember that Nova heavily criticized GARB since 2013 publicly. Nova claimed that the audit results in 2013 have not been implemented and deficiencies have not been remediated. Nova raised doubts about the representativeness of the panel and the correctness of the whole system of TV measurement. These are questions which must be discussed now within the JIC.

What are the next steps that the industry must undertake on the audience measurement topic?

The entire industry must come together to one table and start working on the audience measurement system as soon as possible. We must seriously deal with and discuss Nova’s reasons why they mistrusted GARB data in the past and we must subject GARB to a thorough audit. It’s in the best interest for the entire industry to eliminate potential deficiencies in the system.

Do you expect the audit to find faults with the current panel that would explain why bTV’s results have been declining? 

Auditing a TAM panel is a normal process and should be done regularly. The industry and the digital environment are changing rapidly so it’s indispensable to perform constant reality checks. The system must be objective and must fairly represent the Bulgarian population. Most importantly the work must be a joint process, not an individual approach. That’s the main principle of a JIC. There will obviously be issues where broadcasters may have different views. These differences will need to be resolved by introducing sensible conflict resolution mechanisms. This is no rocket science and should be agreeable by all players. We expect that this time some more common sense will be applied.

Since when you noticed changes in GARB’s behavior regarding bTV viewership data? Why didn’t you request and audit?

Again, an audit must be a joint process by the industry. All stakeholders constantly have questions which need to be clarified. We see some data which are contradictory to surveys which we conduct and also to IPTV viewership data. Now a JIC can embrace all areas for improvement of the current audience measurement system.

Would you consider switching to another people meter provider if the audit does not take place? Is such a scenario realistic?

We’ll not repeat Nova’s mistake and we’ll not go any other way as long as we can work on strengthening the TV currency now with Nova on our side, this should have been done already years ago. The entire industry must strive for a state-of-the-art TAM provider in Bulgaria including regular audits and enhanced multichannel measurement in the new digital environment. I see no reason why someone would block such a process.

How do you think the people meter system should develop?

Following the content and distribution developments we need a measurement of Total Video across all devices and platforms. Video content providers are flourishing in the digital environment. However, the multichannel consumption must be entirely measured and data must be merged and provided as Total Video data in an advertiser and agency friendly way. Such measurement systems are in place, however not in Bulgaria currently. The JIC will need to find the best solution for our industry and to request it from GARB or any other leading audience measurement provider.

Is still Krassimir Guergov a minority owner of bTV? Is his share 6%? At what stage is the deal for CME’s sale?

There is information about CME in the SEC filings on its website. CME is not providing regular updates on the transaction.