Lagos homes to get 36GB monthly data as FG begins TV audience measurement

The Federal Government has commenced the first phase of its national Audience Measurement System (AMS) in Lagos, with selected households set to receive monthly 36GB data incentives for participating in the new television audience measurement programme.

The initiative, spearheaded by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) under the FreeTV brand, was announced at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to the Commission, the AMS is designed to replace Nigeria’s traditional diary-based television audience measurement system with Peoplemeter technology that automatically captures viewing patterns in participating households.

Under the programme, selected homes will have Peoplemeter devices and data-enabled routers installed to securely track television viewing and transmit the information daily to a central data centre.

What they are saying

Speaking during the briefing, the Minister of Information and National Orientiation, Mohammed Idris, said with the modernization of broadcasting through initiatives such as the Digital Switch Over, Nigeria is also building a modern and credible systems for understanding the audiences.

• “A reliable audience measurement system can strengthen investor confidence, support the production of quality Nigerian content and create opportunities across our media and creative industries.
• “Our broadcasting sector is not only a source of information and entertainment; it is also an important economic ecosystem supporting journalists, producers, filmmakers, actors, advertisers, technology providers and many other professionals.
• “At its core, AMS helps us better understand our audiences: who is watching, what they are watching, and when they are watching. This information is vital to broadcasters, advertisers, content producers, investors and regulators,” said the Minister, who was represented by the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo.

Incentives for households

Speaking on the initiative, Patrick Gomes, Chief Operating Officer of First Media and Entertainment Integrated Limited (FMEIL) GARB, the technical partner implementing the system, said participating households will initially receive 36GB of data monthly as an incentive.

He said the monthly incentive is currently valued at about N11,000 and is intended to cover the participating households’ browsing requirements.

Gomes disclosed that the programme will also introduce a quarterly incentive based on how consistently participating households comply with the requirements of the audience measurement system.

He explained that households with higher levels of compliance would receive higher quarterly incentives, while those with lower compliance would receive a corresponding proportion of the incentive.

• “So we also want to introduce, we do not just look at monthly data, but we also add in a quarterly incentive for the level of compliance they deliver,” he said.

According to him, the Lagos rollout follows a technical testing phase and a proof of concept pilot conducted in selected homes. The pilot results were presented to stakeholders in Abuja in the second quarter of 2024.

The households being recruited for the panel are being selected from Nigeria’s first nationwide Establishment Survey, which was completed in the first half of 2023.

The survey covered 60,000 households across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, including 7,000 households in Lagos.

Commenting on the initiative, Director General of the NBC, Charles Ebuebu, described the rollout as a major development for Nigeria’s broadcasting industry.

• “The rollout of this Audience Measurement System marks a transformative milestone for Nigeria’s broadcasting ecosystem,” Ebuebu said.

He said the system would provide accurate, passive tracking of audience consumption patterns while addressing longstanding challenges around transparency in the advertising and broadcasting markets.

Gomes noted that the Lagos deployment represents the first phase of the initiative, while the second phase will extend the system to Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano. The third phase is expected to cover other major media markets across the six geopolitical zones.

Get up to speed

The AMS rollout follows the launch of FreeTV, a national digital television platform in June this year.

• The platform provides households across Nigeria with access to more than 100 television channels without monthly subscription fees.
• According to the government, the FreeTV forms part of Nigeria’s Digital Switch-Over (DSO) programme, which is aimed at ensuring broad access to digital broadcasting services as the country completes its migration from analogue television.
• The rollout of the TV is also expected to reduce entry barriers for households, as viewers will not be required to purchase new television sets.

Existing television sets can receive the service through compatible DVB-T2 or DVB-S2 decoders, while households already using compatible free-to-air decoders may not need additional equipment.

What you should know

Nigeria’s final transition away from analogue television remains targeted for completion by the end of 2028, with households expected to begin preparing by confirming decoder compatibility and adopting digital broadcasting services.

The transition could also unlock significant economic opportunities for broadcasters and content creators.

The National Broadcasting Commission recently disclosed that the Digital Switch-Over programme is expected to open up Nigeria’s N605.2 billion advertising market, creating new revenue opportunities across the media and entertainment value chain.