Ratings service to help Ghana broadcasters gauge, cater to consumers

The broadcasting industry in Ghana is continually growing and evolving, with broadcasters wanting the newest features and most up-to-date technology to gauge consumers' viewing and listening habits, and to bring them the programming that they desire.

To help make that available, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) recently entered into a partnership with mobile surveying company GeoPoll, which will provide media data services to all GIBA members, including TV and radio stations, as well as Internet broadcasters, or webcasters.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with Geo Poll to bring better media data to broadcasters in Ghana," GIBA President Akwasi Agyeman said. "Broadcasting in Ghana is at a turning point, and audiences are becoming increasingly savvy about the way they consume media. We are confident that with this data, broadcasters will better understand the behavior of their audiences, make more-effective programming decisions and improve their ratings in this competitive media environment.”

Through a product the company developed with Kantar Media -- Kantar-GeoPoll Media Measurement (KGMM) -- GIBA members will be able to keep track of ratings daily. The daily ratings data will come through KGMM on panel-based text-message surveys. Broadcasters will be able to see which demographic groups are watching or listening and at what times.

This comes at an opportune time for TV stations in Ghana, as a changeover to digital TV signals is set for early next year.