Media&Marketing: Estimating those viewing matches in pubs is a thorny issue. RTÉ suggests that when viewing figures for sports events are being compiled, one should add about 20 per cent to the total to take account of pub viewing figures, writes Emmet Oliver

So far, advertisers have shown little enthusiasm for testing out this theory, which RTÉ says is backed up by rigorous research.

Now Setanta Sports, ironically one of RTÉ's rivals, is taking up the cudgels.

The channel has been invited to join the executive committee of Nielsen, which is responsible for compiling television viewership figures.

The invitation recognises the growing importance of Setanta Sports in the Irish television market. For example, the latest Nielsen figures (July to September) show a 44.8 per cent increase in viewership figures for the channel from multichannel homes.

Setanta Sports, broadcasting on a full-time basis since February, has long claimed the current mechanism for assessing Irish viewership figures does not reflect the actual reach of the station due to its unique distribution system.

It is likely that Setanta will broach the issue of including pub audiences in the ratings. Setanta has indicated that this is an important market and recently conducted a survey which indicated that 37 of 79 Dublin bars inspected were showing Setanta Sports Rangers v Celtic clash from the Scottish Premier League.

It will be interesting to see if the station succeeds in getting some movement on the issue of pub viewing figures. Adding 20 per cent to its current viewing figures would be a great bonus. It would be surprising if RTÉ and TV3 were not supportive, seeing as their figures would also be boosted.

Spoiling pays off

While it may certainly have the look of a "spoiler" product, the new Herald AM freesheet from the Independent News and Media (IN&M) stable is probably going to be an asset to the company in the long term.

That is the verdict from the stockbroking houses this week. The main brokers believe the spoiling tactics will help the Independent group insulate itself to a fair degree from the assault of the new Metro, backed by, among others, The Irish Times Ltd.

While advertisers have talked about falling sales for the Star (50 per cent owned by IN&M), the Herald (100 per cent owned by IN&M), the Sun and the Mirror, the main brokers are more sanguine about the whole thing.

Merrion Capital estimates the Herald AM launch is costing the company about €2.2 million. But it says the product should find a place in the affections of younger urban professionals.

Merrion says the impact of Herald AM and Metro on existing products is likely to be very marginal, possibly only causing existing titles to lose about 7,000 copies per day across the market. Considering the large number of existing titles, this is not going to cause the industry too many sleepless nights.

Based on Merrion's comments, the readers of Metro and Herald AM are likely to be new readers, rather than existing readers shifting their allegiances away from paid newspaper titles.

This view is not supported by commentary from advertising agencies who believe existing tabloid titles like the Star and Evening Herald - heavily reliant on television and entertainment listings - are going to suffer. Only time will tell which analysis is the correct one.

C4 plays it clever

Anyone attending television or advertising seminars or conferences gets heartily sick of hearing the term "media fragmentation".

The phrase sums up a broad-based process that has been impacting on newspapers, radio, television and the internet over the last decade. Put simply, the big media power blocs are no more and the only way to survive into the future is by diversifying and broadening your media brand.

This doesn't necessarily have to be a dramatic process. For example, The Irish Times managed to gradually transfer its values and ethos into the online world with the creation of ireland.com.

The best example at the moment, though is Channel 4 in Britain. This week it launched the latest version of itself - More4.

Described by many as "sexed-up BBC4", it has a small budget, but in programming terms it resembles a trendy public service type channel, if such a thing exists.

The channel is available in Ireland via the NTL Digital platform. It kicked off its first week of broadcasting with a drama about the private life of former British Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Now available in Britain is Channel 4, E4, Film Four, More4 and Four Docs. While its critics describe the channels as a variation on a theme (the Big Brother theme?), it is clear that Channel 4 executives believe a portfolio of channels is the best way to guarantee audience share in the digital TV age.

Does the experience of Channel 4 have some lessons for RTÉ? The State-owned broadcaster only has two TV stations of its own right now.

It used to have proposals for more, but they were shelved when plans for digital terrestrial foundered. Should they be re-visited in the next few years one wonders?

Emmet Oliver can be contacted at eoliver@irish-times.ie