The HACA, which has been at the forefront of audience measurement for several years, kindly agreed to answer our questions about the working hypothesis currently circulating in order to clarify the situation.
What is the current situation?
Operators in the audiovisual sector have expressed to the government their desire for the state to finance audience measurement for at least three years, as they are unable to finance it themselves given the advertising resources available.
The State has not yet responded to this request but is expected to give its answer by the end of the year, which would allow, if the answer is positive, implementation to begin in 2023.
What legal structure will be put in place to manage this implementation?
Nothing has been decided yet, but the most likely scenario is the creation of an economic interest group (EIG) based on the Médiamétrie model in France, in which all media companies will be involved, as well as advertisers through the National Union of Advertisers of Côte d'Ivoire. The primary role of this structure will be to select the audience measurement operator after issuing a call for tenders.
This model is the most flexible and does not preclude state support.
What will be the role of the HACA?
The HACA will be responsible for coordinating the process, supervising implementation, and certifying the results.
What technology will be used?
For the moment, no decision has been made on the methodology to be used, but the HACA is leaning towards automatic audience measurement in order to avoid disputes and recriminations associated with declarative audience measurement, which relies on the memory of those interviewed. However, the question of whether the government will agree to follow the HACA's recommendation on this point has not yet been decided, given the financial impact of this technology.
What will be the cost of audience measurement?
It is still too early to give a budget estimate. Only the firm that is selected—after responding to a call for tenders—will be able to give a precise idea of the cost. In addition, the cost varies depending on the size of the sample and the methodology chosen, particularly in the case of automatic measurement, which remains much more expensive.