The official rating data of Channel 14 (formerly Channel 20) is much lower than the data distributed on behalf of the channel, according to an examination by the Israeli Rating Committee.
The commercial channel, which belongs to capitalist Yitzhak Mirilshvili and is identified with the zealous supporters of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resigned from the 2019 rating committee on the grounds that the measurement method is flawed and does not reflect its popularity among the general public. The basis for these claims was the channel’s low viewing figures, which did not come close to those of the major commercial channels – Keshet’s Channel 12 and Network’s Channel 13, and were even lower than the low – rated public channel, here 11.
The rating committee, the “Israeli rating committee” in its full name, is the body accepted by advertisers in measuring rating data. In the years since retiring from the rating committee, no official viewing data of Channel 14 has been published. Various news sites have published flattering data that allegedly indicate that Mirilshvili’s channel enjoys high ratings – but the source of the data usually remains dim, and so is their validity. At the same time, sources in the channel have publicly complained that advertisers are not pouring enough budgets into it and claimed that there is a kind of silent boycott on the part of advertisers designed to weaken it for political reasons, although they have not provided any proof.
Yitzhak Mirilshvili, the declared controlling owner of Channel 14, formerly Channel 20 (screenshot from a Chabad video)
One of the parties accused of such a boycott is the Government Advertising Bureau (LPM), which stopped advertising on the channel after its people jumped the advertising prices. “M is public money coming from the pockets of taxpayers in Israel. A few weeks ago, at a discussion of the Economics Committee, the director of the LPM media department, Talia Levins, announced that the dispute had been resolved and that the state would publish again on the channel.
The convention in the media industry, which is supported by data obtained by the “Seventh Eye”, is that Mirilshvili’s channel charges very low advertising prices, and these are probably not enough to finance its activities.
According to a Channel 14 publication from last month, “Studies” showed that the channel’s rating is about 4% in prime time, and in programs that are broadcast before that – for example, the main edition and Shimon Riklin’s daily program – the rating is a little more than 3%. “This is a relatively impressive figure for the ratings of the new editions and the strong competitors in the parallel channels,” it was claimed in the publication, parts of which were copied from a press release distributed on behalf of the channel in the past.
However, the data of the rating committee published today (13.3) show that the viewing rates on Channel 14 during prime time (20: 00-23: 00) are only about a quarter of the declared figure, and amount to only 1.1% among the general population, and 1.3% Among the Jewish population. The rating committee noted that the data refer to the week between March 6 and 12, and do not include Friday evening, so Channel 14 broadcasts are disabled due to Sabbath observance.
The data make it possible to re-examine claims that were published in light of the unofficial rating data of Channel 14, which accompanied the flattering news in which the channel was presented as a commercial success. Like Channel 14, Channel 11 here of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation withdrew from the rating committee in 2019, in a way that created uncertainty about its viewing data through television sets (as opposed to online viewing, where the corporation’s flagship productions receive impressive viewing volumes).
Advertising sign for the launch transmitter of Channel 14 (formerly Channel 20), December 2021, Bat Yam (Photo: “The Seventh Eye”)
News recently published on the “Ace” and “Srugim” websites claims, based on data allegedly leaked from “one of the largest cable and satellite platforms in the country”, that the viewing data on Channel 14 is significantly higher than the viewing data here 11. However, according to the rating committee, the situation is reversed. . According to the data, last week’s prime time viewing rates here 11 stand at 3.7% among the Jewish public, and 3.1% among the general population. Not high figures, which do not come close to the rating of Channel 12, the channel watched in the country, but still more than double that of Channel 14.
How does Channel 14 explain the gap between the statements and the rating committee’s data? In fact, on what are the flattering figures that were circulated in the past, which now seem unrelated to reality, based? Could it be that they were intended to attract advertisers and improve the channel’s position in negotiating advertising prices on it, rather than reflecting the true extent of the channel’s exposure?
Channel 14 CEO Itai Wellman responded: “Channels 12 and 13, control the rating committee with a lot of money and insist on continuing to measure ratings with archaic technology, which falsifies viewing data in their favor. Channel 14 is measured by advanced digital means that are out of its control and exposed to its advertisers. In recent months, pressure has been exerted on Channel 14 to join the committee for a small fee, since the pressure did not help – Channel 12 decided to publish the data for free.