Daily Research News Online no. 5530 - UK Audience Measurement Faces Future

UK Audience Measurement Faces Future

May 22 2006

RAJAR has awarded contracts to Ipsos MORI, RSMB and TNS covering radio audience measurement for two years starting January 2007. Ipsos MORI will continue to operate the core survey with a redesigned diary, while TNS will trial a PPM-based electronic measurement panel in London, providing both radio data for RAJAR and TV for co-sponsor BARB.

The two-year programme is designed to give the industry 'a robust and reliable currency' from 2007 onwards - the simultaneous running of the enhanced diary system will allow continuous data delivery; an opportunity to learn about the audiometer data and its consistency over time; and the introduction of the new and necessary planning processes and protocols required to ensure its smooth introduction, says RAJAR.

Trials of Electronic System - TNS / Arbitron PPM

In London, TNS will recruit, install and operate an electronic measurement panel using the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM). Data from the panel will cover 50 national and London radio stations within the M25 across four platforms: analogue, DAB, DTV and Internet. This data is to be analysed separately and will not be integrated into the main currency.

The panel is a joint venture between RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd) and TV audience authority BARB - each party will have control of the data relating to its own medium. Among other roles, the trial will investigate the reality of volatility between diary and audiometer methodology. From BARB's point of view, Chief Executive Bjarne Thelin says the joint venture 'will exist purely to give us more information on the viability of techniques in possible system designs.'

RAJAR is still considering three possible technologies for the switchover to electronic measurement - Arbitron's PPM, Eurisko's Media Monitor and a cellphone based product developed by Ipsos and US partner The Media Audit. RAJAR's Research Director Paul Kennedy told DRNO the trial is using the Arbitron device simply because it is the only one ready to be tested in the field. The PPM has been in development much longer - since the late 1990s - whereas the two rivals are new in the last few years. 'Eurisko moved mountains to get as close as they did' said Kennedy - around 6 months and one more test - whereas the Ipsos product is the newest and is probably a year and 3 or 4 tests away from being ready.

'We very much hope that Ipsos and Eurisko will continue to develop their products at the fast pace they have managed to date' added Kennedy. Asked whether the trial would mean an investment in the PPM specifically, thereby giving it an advantage, he explains: 'A lot of the tests will be generic to all electronic meters...' Kennedy acknowledges 'a huge gap in our knowledge at present' concerning the way the public will interact with electronic measurement devices, and says the trial should enable RAJAR to answer many of the outstanding questions.

Richard Marks, Director of Research & Business Development at TNS comments: 'We are now relishing the chance to work as a contractor with RAJAR to introduce the benefits of metered measurement and a panel-based methodology... BARB's decision to join this initiative means that these really are exciting times for broadcast audience measurement in the UK.'

Enhancement to Diary System - Ipsos MORI and RSMB

For the core survey, a newly designed diary will collect information about listening platform - making the UK radio market the first in the world to provide audience listening data broken down between analogue, DAB, DTV and Internet listening. In addition, an enhanced sample design will improve data quality, delivery should speed up by as much as two weeks, volatility issues will be addressed and a simpler, more economical radio map produced.

Respected BARB supplier RSMB Audience Research will take responsibility for sampling, weighting, processing and reporting, and overall quality control. 'In 15 years of serving BARB, RSMB has become a by-word for technical excellence and innovative thinking' said RAJAR MD Sally de la Bedoyere.

De la Bedoyere says the RAJAR board has made 'a clear and strategic decision in opting to introduce the two-year contract. Not only will it protect and upgrade the existing currency, it will also allow us to press ahead immediately with the introduction of a number of excellent improvements to the survey. Furthermore, the establishment of an electronic panel will move us up a level, beyond simply the testing of audiometers, to an exciting and essential period of research and development involving electronic measurement.' She adds that the new data structure will 'hopefully lead to publishable insights with regards, particularly, to individual listening habits over time, degrees of volatility and a greater granularity of data.'

The new radio map will enter the field in July 2006, with the first reports based on it expected along with the first platform data in Quarter 2, 2007.

Key users of the data have spoken positively about the new approach. Jenny Abramsky, Director, BBC Radio and Music, described the new contract as 'a major step forward for radio audience measurement, significantly improving the methodology, whilst maintaining continuity of the data.'

Commenting on behalf of the Commercial Radio Companies Association, Chief Executive Paul Brown says that in consultation in late 2004, Commercial Radio and advertisers identified 'stable, robust, recent data' as their key requirement. 'The contract announced today provides this via simplified survey geography, improved sample efficiency and RSMB's new quality control role. The London meter panel will nail radio's electronic measurement compliance issues and provide the radio industry with vital information to prepare for trading on electronic data. Significantly the panel also marks a unique and pioneering collaboration between television and radio which we believe advertisers will like.'

The three supplier contracts are to run concurrently for two years, with standard options to extend. Richard Silman, Executive Chairman of Ipsos MORI said: 'The award of a contract valued at £4.5 million in the first year is a vote of confidence in the service we currently provide. Over the next two years our focus will be to enhance our existing service. At the same time we will be working with the industry to develop our mobile phone based metering technology to provide an electronic measurement system for radio.'

The companies are online at www.rajar.co.uk , www.tns-global.com , www.arbitron.com , www.ipsos.com , and www.rsmb.co.uk .