This ''double stream'' of information - MultiChoice's DStv-i info, together with the normally available TV ratings supplied by SAARF Tams, will give advertisers and media buyers in the medium of television in South Africa and even clearer picture of TV audience sizes, but also trends. What happens is that the DStv-i digital TV audience measurement research service makes use of what is called ''return path data'' (RDP) - information that a DStv decoder automatically tracks and sends back to MultiChoice regarding the times, duration and channels that subscribers are watching.
PVR households will be added later in the year to DStv-i, and the plan is to add MultiChoice's high definition (HD) TV channels next year in 2011. The first DStv-i data will become available in July to advertisers and researchers. DStv-i has been modelled on the BSkyB ''Skyview'' panel, the Sky New Zealand AMS panel and the DirectTV panel in America. MultiChoice says it will help the operator to ''develop an in-depth understanding of DStv viewing patterns by more defined target market groups.''
