The Communications Commission will fund the international audit for the TV audience measurement company Tri Media Intelligence (TMI), which is the official representative of Kantar Media in Georgia. The Commission issued a tender for the international audit today. The The need for an audit is due to the fact that there are currently two TV audience measurement companies operating in Georgia, and their data differs from each other. According to international practice, TV audiences in all developed countries are measured by one company. 

The fact that the two audience measurement companies operating in Georgia supply different data creates a problem both for the broadcasters and advertisers, as they do not know which figures are accurate. This has a negative impact on the development of the TV advertising market. 

Due to the current situation on the advertising market, the Communications Commission, as the body that determines the policy in the broadcasting sector, has expressed its willingness to cover the costs of international audit, the results of which will provide answers to numerous questions that currently exist on the advertising market. The Commission offered both TV audience measurement companies to choose the international auditing firm themselves. Tri Media Intelligence accepted the Commission’s offer and was willing to allow the internationally recognised auditing firm nominated by TVMR Georgia to conduct the auditing process. However, after a long working process, TVMR Georgia declined to accept the Commission’s offer, citing protests from some of its clients-broadcasters. Specifically, TV Pirveli, Mtavari Arkhi, Formula and Kavkasia TV refused to allow conducting an audit for TVMR.  

It should be mentioned that the existence of two different sets of figures creates uncertainty for advertisers. For that reason, they have been diverting advertising funds away from broadcasters  towards digital media in recent years, as advertising revenues in digital media can be measured with absolute precision. It is therefore highly important for both audience measurement companies to undergo international audit to eliminate uncertainties. One of the key objectives of the audit is to ensure transparency and trustworthiness of the company. No such audit has been performed on the Georgian market for several years. However, the problem of two audience measurement companies and two different sets of figures will not be resolved without an audit.