No matter what happens August 31, a viewer ratings system will make it easier to tell whether Markíza's entrance on the scene rocks or rustles the Slovak TV market. The diary-survey project, set up by the Slovak research firm Visio at the behest of Savyt, an association of all Slovak television stations, started up the last week of August.
Like the Neilsen ratings in the U.S., Visio's project will be based on pre-selected "television families" around Slovakia. From the last week of August, a total of 700 individual respondents will write down which stations and shows they watched. Visio will collect the information and tabulate it each week, month, and quarter into absolute and relative ratings for each 15-minute time slot on various stations, including: STV1 and 2, VTV, TV Markíza, TV Nova, Czech TV, Magyar TV, and ORF.
According to TV industry sources, Markíza pushed hard for the project, in large part because the new station will use the audience ratings to convince potential clients of its market as well as to monitor its progress. "We can use it to talk to smaller clients without large budgets," said Markíza's ad sales director, Vitold Chrzanowski. "We can show them we are reaching group x, y, or z. We sell audience composition, and this shows demographics."
"This was established because of Markíza's presence," said Viera Stadtruckerová, an advertising representative for the advertising agency IP, which handles VTV and STV. "But I think it will be very useful for all stations to know by whatever methods their place is on the market."
