Boost for UAE People Meter Plan

In the UAE (United Arab Emirates), broadcaster Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) has announced it will fund and lead the introduction of People Meters to measure numbers of TV viewers in the region.

Currently audience figures are gathered by diaries, or random telephone calls to viewers asking them to recall which programmes they have watched. The People Meters will gather data electronically in real-time, and feed this information back to a data centre for analysis.

Earlier in the year, the National Media Council (NMC) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) began working together to introduce a People Meter system.

However, according to Karim Sarkis, the Executive Director of Broadcast for ADMC, his company is now in negotiations with an international provider of people-metering services.

ADMC says it is also prepared to fund the $2m (DH7.3m) to $3m required for the initial establishment survey, manufacturing, distribution and other start-up costs, but hopes that, once data is available by December, other stakeholders will subscribe to the service and help shoulder the cost.

'This is not a business venture,' Sarkis said. 'This is purely something that we would like to do so that we can advance the media sector in the UAE.'

ADMC, which was founded in 2007, employs 1,800 people across its operating units which include publishing, television, radio, digital media, distribution and printing. The company is headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Washington DC.

Web site: www.admedia.ae .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.