TV measurement agency Kantar Media has announced the closure of its UAE people meter service tView following a disagreement with the stakeholders in Emirates Media Measurement Company (EMMC), for whom the service was operated.

The WPP-owned agency will cease measuring daily TV ratings from November 30 when the contract with EMMC ends.

In an email sent to subscribers of the tView data, and shared by the company with Campaign, CEO and chairman Andy Brown said Kantar would consider legal action against EMMC’s stakeholders to recover costs.

He said: “The UAE TV industry will be left with no option but to trade without an internationally accepted TV ratings currency.

“The absence of objective ratings is likely to lead advertisers to question their investments and damage the long term prosperity of the regions media and advertising market.

 “Kantar is naturally disappointed at this outcome but remains committed to the wider industry. We will re-open dialogue if there is a genuine desire to fuel the long-term prosperity of TV in the region.”

The people-meter system uses audio recognition and handsets to log the viewing habits of a 3,000-strong panel. It has been set up and trialled since 2011.

The panel results are extrapolated to provide data on who is watching what and for how long. This allows advertisers to better measure the reach of their campaigns, and for broadcasters to hone their programming.

Kantar was recently received global endorsement from independent media auditor Centre d’étude des supports de publicité (CESP).

However, media giant Choueiri Group, which controls sales for pan-Arab broadcaster MBC, never signed up to the project despite the efforts of WPP regional CEO Roy Haddad.

In January this year, EMMC’s general manager Chris O’Hearn left the company, although he remained as a consultant until May. He has not been replaced. Another two of EMMC’s four permanent staff also resigned, and the last was laid off in June.