People meters will reduce channels

The introduction of people meters in Middle East homes will lead to a major shake-out of TV channels, according to a panel of broadcast experts.

Speaking at the Campaign Conference, Peter Einstein, the ex-CEO of pay-TV network Showtime, said channels that failed to deliver large audiences would be deemed 'irrelevant'.

"This market can't sustain over 200 free-to-air stations from a revenue point of view," he said.

"Many of them are not here to make profit. They are just here for government purposes or vanity. A lot of them are also here due to lack of accountability, so hopefully we will move towards ratings measurement. People that want to survive will have to deliver an audience share or just be irrelevant."

Mazen Hayek, group director of marketing, PR and commercial at MBC Group, said consolidation was already taking place.

"Advertisers and consumers will end up deciding who stays on air, and they are already sending strong signals to us," he said. "I think the consumer and the advertiser have already opted for that type of consolidation."

But Einstein said the research available to broadcasters was far from reliable.

He said: "We have looked for many research companies out here and most of them have said 'what do you want it to say? We'll be happy to make it for you'.

"Until the people meter is in the home, functioning in a neutral, quality way, we will never know the real story."

He was critical of MBC for offering 'old formulas' like Tash ma Tash, labeling it "an old joke which has been around for years".

He added: "These are all old formulaic historical epics.

"If I were a free-to-air person and I decided to hang my hat on that, you might find yourself a loser in future because several people are going to come with new formats, new creative ways of doing programming in Arabic.

"My next life will dictate that," he added, making a cryptic reference to his next career move.

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