The SABC and e.tv - in total representing basically almost 100% of South African freely accessible and public television broadcasters since community television viewership is still largely negligible although growing - have both decided to withdraw from the South African Audience Research Foundation (Saarf). The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) the body representing broadcast media in South Africa, has similar plans.
Saarf compiles South Africa's TV viewership figures and South African broadcasters and the country's TV industry is in turmoil following a shocking audit highlighting problems and serious shortcomings with the panel measurement which has been used, the ratings of which broadcasters and advertisers use as currency to determine ad spend and to what TV channels those ad rands go.
The SABC and e.tv say they are still calculating the losses due to potential advertising income the broadcasters might have lost out on, but says it "is estimated to run at hundreds of millions of rands".
The decision by the SABC and e.tv to leave Saarf, follows the indication of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) - of which the SABC and e.tv are members - to resign from Saarf. Saarf is responsible for compiling South Africa's television viewership metric known as Television Audience Measurement Survey (TAMS) which is done by the Nielsen Media Research research company.
There's major upheaval behind the scenes within South Africa's TV and broadcasting biz - the drama began when an audit conducted by the French media research audit firm CESP - and asked for by South African broadcasters - brought to light serious shortcomings in the conduct of the TAMS panel.
TAMS ratings are critical because that determines broadcasters' ad rates. Problems with the TAMS panel means inaccurate ratings and viewership measurement, which has a massive impact on the potential ad income for broadcasters such as the SABC and e.tv.
The SABC and e.tv experienced falling ratings in certain viewership groups - especially in the lower viewership brackets of middle income South Africans who are actually the largest consumers of free-to-air television such as the SABC's three TV channels and e.tv.
The audit showed that the TAMS panel failed to keep up with the evolving South African demographic profile, only partiallymeasured certain homes, failed to balance the panel by individual living standards measurement, failed to properly maintain the household meters which measure TAMS households' viewership, and failed to manage the declining efficiency of the panel.
The effect was that upper income television households - such as those watching DStv - became over-represented on the TAMS panel as compared to middle and lower income households who are underrepresented.
"In the South African context, this effectively translates into an over-representation of white television viewership and a serious under-representation of black television viewership," says the SABC and e.tv in a joint statement as to why they're abandoning Saarf.
"Not only is this morally unacceptable in South Africa in 2013, it has a direct financial impact on the free-to-air broadcasters who broadcast programming to the majority of South Africans. Of even more concern to the SABC and e.tv is that this state of affairs had been ongoing for many years without any intervention from Saarf executive management," says the broadcasters.
"It has become apparent to the SABC and e.tv that the concerns of free-to-air television broadcasters are not being taken seriously and have not received the urgent attention from Saarf which they demanded," says the broadcasters. "The SABC and e.tv therefore fully support the NAB intention to resign from Saarf."
The SABC and e.tv now wants a new industry research body "which is sensitive to the fast-changing demographics of South Africa and which treats all South African audiences with equal importance" the broadcasters say in the strongly-worded statement released late today.
"The SABC and e.tv firmly believe that this will be to the benefit of all stakeholders in the broadcasting industry as South Africa moves to a digital free-to-air market."
Paul Haupt, the CEO of Saarf says the organisation is "extremely disappointed at the proposed resignation of the National Association of Broadcasters".
"Saarf has been the custodian of all industry audience measurement for 39 years and the measurement of television and radio has been an important part of its activities".
He says the statement made by the SABC and e.tv contains "serious inaccuracies and Saarf will respond in full to the allegations and inaccurate interpretation of the audit findings".
Paul Haupt says "Saarf wants to state unequivocally that it was not the Saarf board that refused the NAB proposal for greater representation of broadcast media on the Saarf board. Saarf members asked the NAB for two weeks extra time before meeting again with the NAB to try and resolve the issue amicably and to get a consensus decision from all Saarf stakeholders."
"The NAB refused and insisted that the matter be put to a vote knowing well that they could not get the 75% majority required for the approval of a special resolution."