A partly donor-funded initiative in South Sudan's capital Juba aiming at measuring audience sizes of various broadcasters has failed to secure participation or endorsement from major broadcasters, according to media sources.

Audience rating systems are used in many countries to help advertisers determine how many people and in which demographics listen to various broadcasters. This helps them to make informed decisions about how to spend advertising budgets.

The ratings system is therefore an essential part of a functioning commercial media market in many countries.

Forcier Consulting, a research company in Juba, has been seeking to set up an audience rating system in Juba and collecting data since last year. The company carries out monthly face-to-face surveys across all three urban payams of Juba on a monthly basis, collecting data on listenership as well as demographic and socio-economic information.

The company says that ultimately the custodianship of this system will be handed over to an industry-governed nonprofit entity, the Center for Audience Ratings, which it says it is in the process of establishing. However, the only major media organization that is confirmed to be supporting the process so far is the one that is funding it: Internews, which previously operated Eye Radio before establishing it as a national NGO funded by USAID via Internews.

Other large broadcasters are uncommitted while smaller ones are unable to pay the $5000 fee that Forcier has provisionally asked for the data. Even though the audience ratings system is part-funded by USAID, the data collected so far is not being shared with broadcasters.

The Catholic Radio Network, a network of eight FM radios in South Sudan including Radio Bakhita in Juba, have not subscribed to the ratings service. “I heard about the audience rating system through the MSWG (Media Sector Working Group), but we've not been approached directly about it,” said Enrica Valentini, director of the radio network.

Representatives of Radio Bakhita itself, meanwhile, were present at a forum event in March organized by Forcier with the intent to “introduce the idea of the Media Owners Committee and a draft of subscription costs.” A participant at the meeting, however, said that reactions from the participants were muted and non-committal.

“Actually nobody really reacted. Just the presentation was done and nobody really raised up and tried to bring things up,” said the media source. “People just kept quiet.”

He added that participants after the meeting expressed reluctance to pay for the service. Multiple media sources confirmed that Forcier's proposed subscription cost of $5000 was too high for struggling South Sudanese media houses.

Hayley Umayan, Forcier's Senior Engagement Manager in South Sudan, responded to a question from Radio Tamazuj about this saying, “In our follow-up meetings with radio stations after the forum we made it clear that these costs were estimates only; there is no use creating a system if none of our users can afford it.”

Radio Miraya, which has the largest audience in South Sudan including in Juba, according to recent surveys, did not respond to questions from Radio Tamazuj about whether it knows anything about Forcier's initiative or has endorsed the ratings system. Forcier also did not respond directly a question about whether Radio Miraya participated in consultations on the system or received any updates about the ratings data. The same source who attended Forcier's March briefing said, “I don't think Miraya attended.”

Another media source confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that Voice of America's South Sudan in Focus program did not join the ratings system, though they were approached by Forcier about a potential subscription. The VOA project airs on shortwave accessible nationwide and on FM in Juba.

Classic FM, another broadcaster in Juba, has reportedly also declined to participate, saying they are not planning to pay for audience data, according to the same source.

Radio Tamazuj, for its part, was informed about the project in November 2015 by an intern working for Forcier. “After a year of rigorously testing and refining our methodology we have absolute confidence in its credibility. A robust ARS (audience rating system) will benefit media houses, the general public and South Sudan as a whole,” he said. The intern did not respond to follow-up questions about the process.

In later communications with Forcier, the radio station cited concerns over the credibility and independence of the process, the limited utility of a system that covers only Juba, and the poor economic outlook for the FM market in Juba.

Forcier's Umayam stresses, however, that the company is seeking to engage with radio stations. She wrote an email update to a media working group three days ago, shortly after Radio Tamazuj began making inquiries with media stakeholders about their views on the rating system. She explained that Forcier has long been in consultations with different stations, claiming to have visited every Juba-based station, while also seeking eventually to set up the Media Owners Committee as a “formal channel for input.”

Umayan said that the Media Owners' Committee would comprise “any and all Juba-based radio stations that are willing to participate.” This criteria would exclude broadcasters that are arguably not “Juba-based”, including FM and SW broadcasters BBC Arabic, RFI, BBC English, Voice of America's South Sudan in Focus, and Radio Tamazuj, which together have a large audience in Juba, according to Forcier's own recently published survey.

In response to questions, Forcier changed its position on this in an email message to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, saying, “Non-Juba based radio stations are more than welcome to participate in the Media Owners Committee, as subscribers to the service, or both.”

Forcier says that it has carried out “nearly two years of pilot activities, validation exercises, and international scrutiny before we began the formal data collection.” However, the company would not say how much donor money it received so far for the project.

“These developmental stages have been partly funded by Internews and partly funded by Forcier Consulting,” the company acknowledged. But it did not respond to a question about how much money Internews and Forcier committed to the project so far, respectively.

Looking ahead, Forcier says it plans to try to formalize matters around the Media Owners' Committee and subscription costs after another meeting with media stakeholders this month. “To date we have not asked any media house to commit to either the Committee or a subscription as we are still gathering feedback. We hope to formalize these matters and others following the next industry forum in July,” the company told Radio Tamazuj in response to questions on Wednesday.

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