BREAKING. PVR viewership removed from TAMS from August; viewership of M-Net, kykNET, SuperSport will appear lower.

The South African Advertising Research Foundation (Saarf) that compiles South African television's viewership through the TAMS system is dumping PVR viewing from August for the time being, with this change that will lead to lower than actual viewership for premium TV channels such as M-Net, kykNET as the SuperSport channels.

Saarf that's excluding PVR homes and viewership or so-called ''time-shift measurement'' from August, for now, is doing so because it says PVR measurement and its continued inclusion ''is proving problematic''. This temporary change will lead to lower than expected and lower than actual viewership numbers for some DStv Premium channels like M-Net, kykNET and SuperSport channels that benefit from added viewers who watch shows later.

Saarf has decided to remove DStv's PVR universe from the TAMS universe from August while it figures out how to properly combine and add PVR and time-shifted viewership in South Africa. PVR usage (and PVR households) usually boost viewership since viewers can watch shows later and which adds to the viewership tally of a specific show and timeslot. Now Saarf says PVR usage has grown too rapidly over the past three years in South Africa and has become such ''an important component that should be measured separately''.

As a result, from August, PVR viewing will no longer - for the time being - count towards overall viewership. Saarf does plan to re-introduce PVR households back into TAMS as well as time-shifted measurement ''within the next couple of months''.

Saarf warns that because PVR households are mostly on the DStv Premium bouquet ''their exclusion means we see DStv Premium channels showing higher than average decreases'' from August in terms of viewership. The total number of television homes in South Africa in the meter universe will however remain almost constant.

''With the exclusion of PVR homes, TAMS will only reflect a 2% growth'' from 2,437 million to 2,498 million DStv homes, says Saarf. ''The exclusion of PVR homes impacts on DStv Premium channels, where the likes of M-Net, kykNET and SuperSport 1 and 2 will reflect greater than average declines''.

''With the ongoing growth of the DStv Compact bouquet channels such as Africa Magic and Mzansi Magic show above average growth,'' says Saarf.

Saarf is warning the ad buying industry that ''when using June/July as source data, planners must take into account that the impact of the exclusion of PVR homes affects channels differently'' and that because of the major change, ''August and September campaigns should be re-looked in light of these measurement changes''.

''Different down-weight rules should be applied; DStv Compact channels require no additional down-weights beyond the standard 10% generally used, whilst DStv Premium channels require additional 8% down-weight over and above the standard 10%. This is a broad rule of thumb, and there will be variation by target market.''