Radio is constantly expanding. There are many new outlets for this expansion the commercialisation of radio, shifting from the old public service scenario; the growing trend of localisation and regionalism of radio. But also, differentiating it from other media seeking proximity to audiences; and radio streaming across the Internet with its consequent changes in listener behaviour and attentiveness.
This paper describes the development of a new multiple week reach model for Dutch radio data. The new reach formula has been developed to solve the inconsistency between available radio data that describe average week results and radio campaigns consisting of three to eight weeks of advertising. The result of the conducted research is a formula that enables an accurate evaluation of the reach and frequency of multiple week radio campaigns based on multiple observations in radio research. Most of todays radio research can deliver only limited data on the listening behaviour of radio audiences. Because of the constraints of methods, data covering more than one week of the radio life of respondents are rare. But radio-advertising campaigns tend to stretch out between three to eight weeks. To solve this inconsistency a new multiple week reach model for the Dutch market has been developed. This paper describes the process and results of developing this new reach calculation. An actual live case from a user perspective is included in this paper.
The authors recently analyzed the local delivery of national television schedules in concert with proposed purchases of spot radio weight on a Designated Market Area basis. The purpose of the analysis was to determine the optimal combination of network TV and spot radio required to meet the local sales goals for selected marketers in given media planning situations. This macro approach to optimization provides a disciplined framework for focusing on both local market opportunity and optimal reach and frequency. The following paper briefly outlines the impact that advertising clutter and ad cost escalation are having on commercial effectiveness in the United States. It then outlines the sales allocation optimization findings and highlights how the combined radio-TV media mixes performed on a reach and efficiency basis relative to total schedule delivery in the United States.
A wide range of demographic and other data for the classification and description of listeners is collected as part of the RAJAR audience measurement system in the United Kingdom. In addition to the existing characteristics, users have expressed increasing interest in the collection of lifestyle and attitudinal data to enhance purely demographic analyses. RAJAR's audience results are the gold standard for measurement and it is critical to users that any additional data should be based on the existing sample and yield identical audience results to those published from standard surveys. This paper describes a pilot survey that was undertaken using the combination of a mailed re-contact questionnaire and a subsequent fusion of this new data to non-respondents in order to enhance RAJAR's original findings.
Response rates are among the hottest topics in the research industry. Panel research, in particular, is directly confronted with the effects of declining response rates. In the Netherlands, one of the hardest groups to get co-operation from is young people. This paper focusses on attempts to raise response rates of diary research among groups aged 18 - 29 years. It presents results of a number of tests performed in the Dutch radio diary panel. This paper analyses the relevant factors influencing response rates and the effect of motivational calls during the fieldwork period, reminder cards, and specific incentives. The possibilities of an interesting innovation, the e-Diary, are discussed.
Switzerland is the first and, as of now, only country in which radio listening is not established by interviews but rather electronically. The Radiocontrol (RC) technique is based on audio comparison and has been delivering official radio data since January 2001. Previously 22,000 people were recruited by random quota sampling. Radiocontrol presents the radio world in a different light. Radio is far more than an accompaniment through the day. Media events such as the election of the Federal Council, for example, are reflected in the newly established data and show how listeners also use that medium selectively.
The effect of radio spots/radio campaigns on advertising recall, brand awareness and inclination to buy has been adequately demonstrated in numerous studies based on the most diverse of research tools and analysis models. The toughest test of a radio campaigns success, however, is measuring the additional sales it generates for the advertised brand. It has been possible for some years now to study the sales impact of TV campaigns based on analyses of single source panels. The launch of AC Nielsen Single Source PLUS Radio in spring 2000 allows the efficacy of German radio campaigns to be evaluated. This analysis tool is capable of providing a detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of a radio campaign, based on the parameters of spot effectiveness, insertion effectiveness and campaign effectiveness. The results of analyses performed to date on radio campaigns indicate that the influence factors in radio campaigns are broadly comparable with those at work in TV campaigns. Findings from single-source research also confirm that insertion strategies based on recency planning are particularly effective.
The paper describes the changes in the radio market and explores the implications for joint industry measurement in the future. The main issues that must be considered in setting out the scope of the measurement solution are outlined, and the main measurement methodologies are evaluated in the light of these. The authors believe that no single measurement technique is likely to present a complete solution and that therefore mixed research systems will be required. Consideration is given to the forms that mixed systems may take and the preparatory research that will be necessary before they can be designed.
The portable people meter (PPM) is a promising new media research tool that makes it possible to automatically track consumers exposure to the electronic media. An inaudible code is inserted into the audio signal of radio, television, cable and other media outlets. These codes are then detected by pager-sized personal meters worn by respondents. As a follow-up to the successful PPM test panels fielded in Manchester, England during 1998- 2000, Arbitron Inc. launched a large-scale market trial and demonstration of the PPM system in the Philadelphia area in the United States in late 2000. Phase One of the trial is being conducted with a panel of 300 persons aged 6 years and older in the Wilmington, Delaware Arbitron Radio Metro. Initial installation of the panel was completed in March 2001. This paper reports preliminary results from the trial covering cooperation, panel representativeness and respondent compliance with the PPM methodology. Results to date suggest that consumers in the United States, like those in the United Kingdom, comply with the PPM wear or carry instructions to a high degree.
This paper focuses on two aspects of the radio measurement problem: the environment in which the study is carried out and the characteristics of the methodologies developed and tested by researchers in Poland and elsewhere. In the first part of the paper, the market is described in terms of population size and density, recent history of the radio market and the size and structure of advertising expenditures in Poland. The available techniques of radio audience measurement are also examined within this context. The second part of the paper presents key findings of comparisons between different methods of data collection and their possible impact on the competitive position of radio among other media.
This paper develops NBD models and new evaluation methods for estimating the reach and frequency distribution. The models were developed in order to address the radio industrys requirements of flighting and schedule variation from week to week. The models are demonstrated to be valid and reliable. They are empirically evaluated using a new four-week audience survey and are shown to be effective over 52 weeks. The evaluation is based on 1) demonstration schedules developed by the radio industry and by the analyst; 2) station reach; and 3) an examination of the statistical distributions. The delivery of the new models and their acceptance and impact on the radio industry is discussed.
This paper describes the results of a parallel test of two methods of collecting radio tuning data with different diary designs. One diary design uses a pre-printed quarter hour approach where there is a row for each quarter hour in the day and the respondents are asked to draw a line across the quarter hour blocks when they listened. The other diary allows the respondents to write in the exact time they started and finished listening. The comparison focused on return rates, tuning and reach analysis, and a profile of the respondents between the two diary methodologies. The aim of the test was to determine whether the different diaries were better at gathering tuning information or elicited a better response.