Abstract:

The concept of harmonization of television ratings from different countries has been discussed for well over five years. The first impulses towards this goal came from Europe and they focused on Europe, where a number of countries were working with peoplemeter systems which had a lot of similarities, but also enough differences to make ratings comparisons between countries difficult, if not impossible. More recently, the concept of harmonization has been extended to encompass countries around the globe. It is hoped that countries which are building new measuring systems will embrace principles of harmonization put forth by organizations ranging from the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers). Our paper suggests that the perceptions which create these obstacles to harmonization are largely based on misunderstandings about the meaning of “harmonization”. We will show that harmonization does not mean abandoning specific features, but rather adding flexibility and access and that the outcome of such efforts would benefit everybody, not a limited group of international players. We think that concerns and possible misconceptions about the nature and goals of harmonization efforts need to be addressed openly in order to overcome negative perceptions.