Egypt’s TV viewership surveys banned after complaints

CAIRO – 21 June 2017: Egypt’s Supreme Media Regulatory Council issued a decision Wednesday to halt all surveys conducted by companies and private agencies to check the rate of exposure and viewership.

According to a statement by the council, it has received numerous complaints from TV channels about the frequency of the surveys issued by various entities.

“The council decided to ban these surveys until the release of scientific and objective standards that take into account the regulations of measuring public opinion,” according to the statement, “and until the surveys become representatives of reality.”

The decision, the statement read, is based on article four of the law regulating media and journalism, issued in 1992, which gave the council the right to grant licenses to the companies that monitor exposure, listening and viewing rates, as well as following up the process and endorsing the results, according to the council’s regulations.

The statement pointed out a recent increase in the number of surveys about TV series and programs, which “lack scientific foundations and correct measurement standards for public opinion, and are mostly governed by interests that benefit some and harm others and hurt the laws of the market and its integrity.”

The council urged the companies working in this field to amend their situation and not to publish the results of any surveys until they are endorsed by the council. It also formed a committee to put methodological standards for research and sampling.

A number of satellite channels and companies have recently filed complaints against Ipsos, the French market and public opinion research company, accusing it of misleading public opinion by manipulating viewership rates.

The complaints were filed before the Authority of Protection of Competition and Monopolistic Practices Prevention and the parliamentary Media and Culture Committee; and the companies had demanded that the authorities transfer the complaint to the public prosecution.