BIA/Kelsey Selected for CRE Online Video Usage Study

In the US, Nielsen funded client think tank The Council for Research Excellence (CRE) has selected research and advisory firm BIA/Kelsey to conduct a review of research currently available about user experience on multiple video platforms.

Nielsen set up the CRE in 2005 as a body which conducts its own methodological research on video audience measurement. To date, CRE - which has a mandate determined by Nielsen clients - has received a total of $10m in funding from the research giant.

Since it was formed, CRE has completed a number of studies including the 'Video Consumer Mapping Study' involving in-person, computer assisted observation of media consumption; a set-top-box study; a non-response bias study exploring the impact of non-response to Nielsen surveys and an exercise revealing consumers' habits immediately before, during and after watching TV commercials.

Last year, CRE invited agencies to pitch for the new project, which aims to examine areas such as how screen size and 3D TV affects viewer engagement and how people consume video on mobile devices.

BIA/Kelsey has been commissioned to undertake the study, and its Chief Strategy Officer Richard Ducey and Patricia Phalen, Associate Professor at the George Washington University School of Media & Public Affairs, will be the co-principal investigators on the project team.

Their objective is to enable CRE to design and commission new research into the latest and evolving formats of video, including live viewing; screen-size impact; HDTV; DVRs; streaming; mobile; game consoles; 3D TV; tablet PCs; and others as may be found in the course of the review.

'The video landscape is always changing, and this project is designed to gather the research that currently exists so next steps can be planned,' explained Jack Wakshlag (pictured), Chairman of the CRE's Media Consumption & Engagement Committee, and Chief Research Officer of Turner Broadcasting. 'Eventually we want get a research based understanding of users' thoughts, attitudes and behavior as they enter a world filled with an abundance of formats and platforms.'

The new study is expected to be completed in May 2011.

Web sites: www.researchexcellence.com and www.biakelsey.com .