The present situation in media research shows changes on four main aspects: abundance of data and processing supplies speeding up of mutations and acceleration of trends dispersion of practices and explosion of rules and inter- penetration between disciplines. Before this profusion of new media and new rules how should we react to deal with renewal and what are the consequences on our practices? The answers will be found in returning to the fundamentals of media research: targeting media audience research tools and global approach of media. Almost everything is changing - except the philosophy of media research and the expectation of its users - a help for qualitative and quantitative optimisation of the transmission of advertising messages.
The present situation in media research shows changes on four main aspects: abundance of data and processing supplies, speeding up of mutations and acceleration of trends, dispersion of practices and explosion of rules, and inter-penetration between disciplines. Before this profusion of new medias and new rules, how should we react to deal with renewal and what are the consequences on our practices? The answers will be found in returning to the fundamentals of media research: targeting, media audience, research tools, and global approach of media.
The objectives for users of media research are to optimise, qualitatively and quantitatively, the transmission of the advertising message.
The year of 1996 was unbelievably rich in events for radio researchers in France. Not less than two panels were operated as well as the year long DAR audience survey. These events led to some confusion among market actors, as some radio stations were involved in all research while others strongly disagreed with the new panel experience as it may introduce uncertainties in the minds of users, of advertisers, and lead to a loss of credibility of the research itself and, consequently of the media.
Magazines have a unique characteristic, which is an advantage that no other media can display : the particular link between a reader and "his" magazine : to read a magazine means more than just to be in contact with a media, it means a personal involvement, an "effort" to go to a magazine store and buy it, that presupposes there is a starting point adequacy between the reader and the title, that they share ideas and a specific vision of the world, that this magazine has been chosen because of the way of life of the reader, his political or personal convictions, his centers of interest, his leisures... the magazine is a caution that reinforces his system of values, information, convictions. All this makes advertising in magazines a challenge: advertising should fit with all these requirements neither to disappoint the reader nor to make him feel negatively while reading, if all conditions are full-filled, advertising will benefit from the positive environment of the magazine readership and be much more effective.