Kantar Debuts New Regional Readership Method

In the UK, Kantar Media has rolled out a new approach to regional readership data collection, which it says offers a 'considerable cost saving' for publishers conducting regular readership research.

The new approach incorporates telephone interviewing, and has been introduced following a parallel test with more traditional face-to-face methodology.

It has been endorsed by JICREG (the Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research), which last year helped initiate The Newspaper Society's 'Locally Connected' integrated print and online audience measurement system.

'The new approach was rigorously tested by JICREG and we were reassured by the quality of the sample and similarity in results of this new approach to face-to-face interviewing,' comments the committee's CEO, Roger Holland.

Kantar Media is currently using the new approach as part of a readership study for Northcliffe Media, which also links local readership figures to its ongoing consumer behaviour, attitude and media usage study, Target Group Index (TGI).

JICREG has created new guidelines for regional readership research that incorporate the new approach.

Web sites: www.kantarmedia.com and www.jicreg.co.uk .