RAJAR Announces “Roadmap” to Metered Surveys

Michael Hedges October 1, 2004

A step-by-step plan leading to electronic measurement adoption was announced by the UK radio industry group charged with audience measurement.

In a comprehensive “roadmap,” RAJAR executive director Sally De la Bedoyere outlined with dates and details exactly when and how the next series of tests would be carried out and evaluated, decisions made with implementation in 2007.

Details set out by De la Bedoyere include an industry-wide consultation concluding in November, then tests on new versions of the ARBITRON PPM and GfK Radiocontrol watch as well as the Electronic Media Monitor (EMM) from Italian media research company Eurisko concluding in March 2005. Companies will be invited to tender proposals in April 2005 with a contract awarded in September 2005. Parallel surveys, diaries and meters, will run between April and October 2006 and in January 2007 a new radio survey mechanism will be in place.

“To move forward with anything you need a clear map. Now RAJAR has one,” says CRCA chief executive Paul Brown.

“Putting together the results of the new tests together with what it has learnt in previous ones will enable RAJAR to state clearly what sort of methodology it wants rather than merely being constantly peddled with proposals from research companies with something new to sell or particular interests to serve.”

The RAJAR radio audience surveys are conducted using diaries, relying on the recall of participants. Media buyers and research suppliers argue that the method is outdated in light of technical and computing advances.

Broadcasters have been wary of electronic measurement – also called passive measurement since, in theory, survey participants wear or carry the measurement device without active participation in the research. Comparative tests in several markets show differences between diary and meter results that have concerned broadcasters. Even comparative tests between different meters have shown differences, concerning some market researchers.

“It is essential that the next audience recording technology is accurate and accepted throughout the industry, and this timetable demonstrates why the adoption of electronic technology has not been a straight forward decision for RAJAR,” said the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Media Planning Director Peter Cory.

The announcement by RAJAR boosts the possibility that other European joint industry committees will follow suit. At present only in Switzerland is radio listening measured with an electronic device, the Radiocontrol watch. The expense of evaluating the various systems and technologies is high; RAJAR has invested over £800,000 to date.

“The Spanish market is so far not planning a similar change,” said Carlos Lamas, adjoint director pf the Spanish Communication Media Investigation Association (AIMC),  “but I hope that the British initiative moves the minds of the research users to become more demanding towards a radio electronic audience measurement and could force the radio networks to change their current reluctance to it.”

GfK Praha released last week (22 September) results of a test of the Radiocontrol watch conducted in Prague. GfK holds a license to market the technology from Telecontrol, the Swiss developer, which is owned by SSR-SRG, the Swiss public broadcaster.

Since 2001 GfK in the UK has surveyed radio listening using the Radiocontrol watch under a contract from broadcaster The Wireless Group. Kelvin McKinzie, The Wireless Group chairman, has often and vigorously criticized both RAJAR and other UK broadcasters for taking the slow and studious approach to electronic measurement.