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.
This paper describes the testing and implementation of the new RAJAR audience research contract in the United Kingdom.
The paper describes work done to establish guidelines for the measurement of audiences to international radio broadcasters. Following a brief overview of the development of audience measurement services within international radio broadcasters, and a discussion of the need for a more harmonized approach, the paper then presents the recommendations of a group of audience researchers from international broadcasting organisations working under the aegis of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on future good practice in this area.
In line with the BBC's policy of 'Extending Choice 1' , BBC Local Radio stations have increased their reliance on broadcast journalism to distinguish them from the commercial competition. Over the past two or three years there has been a gradual reduction in their music content and an increase in speech; some stations have taken the process further and have become almost entirely speech stations. This policy has been successful in maintaining the reach and share of BBC Local Radio as a whole; however, its success at the individual station level has been more variable. Given that BBC Local Radio sees its raison d'etre as the provision of a speech-based service, qualitative research can provide further insights into how this policy can be linked to the needs of the potential audience. The paper illustrates how a combination of the analysis of continuous data from the RAJAR survey, with the results of quantitative surveys and qualitative (group discussion) research can be used to diagnose what makes for a successful BBC Local Radio station, operating under public-service guidelines. RAJAR data have shown that the considerable changes in the format of BBC Local Radio over the last few years, combined with an increase in local commercial competition, have not resulted in significant changes to its overall audience reach, share or profile: BBC Local Radio continues to obtain the majority of its listening from the over-55 age group. While the performance of individual stations varies over a wide range, it is not simply dependent on the intensity of competition from local commercial stations. 444In attitude surveys, BBC Local Radio is seen as friendly, informative and keeping people in touch with what is happening in their area, besides being professional and providing a quality service. Qualitative research with listeners and potential listeners to BBC Local Radio has underlined the importance of friendly, local presenters, and a strong sense of identification of the station with the local community. While local news and information are the hallmarks of the service, listeners also want to hear coverage of a range of local topics which reflect their pride and involvement in the local area.
The paper aims to describe how the BBC's Broadcasting Research Department sets about meeting the research needs of the Corporation's five national radio stations. Examples are used to illustrate how we are addressing two key strategic objectives which are: - Improving the quality of information management - in particular the quality of the regular information disseminated; Increasing the usefulness of our research. (An aim shared, of course, with researchers industry wide). The first example focuses on the automation of low level tasks. A project is described in which trends for each radio station and competing stations are graphed automatically . In all, over 1000 indiviudal graphs are now being updated automatically. This has had a radical impact on the work of the team - we have much more basic information readily to hand; which allows researchers to focus on the more important research issues. One aspect of the second objective is to exploit existing data sources to the full, rather than simply collecting more data. This means that ad hoc research, when it is conducted, is far more focused. The second illustrative example describes a project which used several different data sources to look at a research problem.
This paper sets out to: Compare the published radio audience figures for a wide range of countries in Western Europe, as generated by their national audience measurement systems. Look for any systematic differences in the figures being reported by diary-based and 24-hour recall systems respectively. Examine evidence of the reliability (or otherwise) of these two conventional techniques for measuring radio audiences - not least what happens to figures when methodological changes are introduced. Report the professional opinions of the public broadcaster research community of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two techniques. Examine empirical evidence of the validity and reliability of radio audience measurement systems. Argue for more debate within the research community towards a consensus on preferred technical procedures for radio audience measurement - separately for 24-hour recall on the one hand and the 7-day self-completion diary on the other. Demonstrate the pay-off of such initiatives in terms of the value of more robust radio audience figures, to meet the needs both of senior broadcasting management for basic measures of public accountability and of the advertising community.
This paper describes the Radio Opinion Monitor (ROM) which is used by the BBC to monitor audience reaction to network radio in the UK. The BBC has measured audience reaction to its services for many years and ROM is a new vehicle which has been designed to accommodate changes in information requirements and the broadcast environment. ROM is a panel survey which delivers roughly 1 listener to each of the BBC's five network services over the course of a month. The principal panel control is the combination of services which respondents listen to which, in this context, is a more useful way of classifying individuals than simple demographics. Panel members complete a diary once every four weeks in which they give a mark out of ten to each programme which they happen to hear. These scores are used to calculate a Reaction Index (RI) for each programme and this information is used alongside audience measurement data in assessing the performance of individual programmes and as a tool for programme planning and scheduling. The paper describes the way in which panel controls were developed and initial problems due to panel effects. Examples of the use of the data are also given.
The BBC World Service has been developing a series of performance indicators which permit its activities to be assessed, particularly in comparison with its major competitors in the international radio broadcasting arena. Some of these address questions about the audience. Some are relatively straightforward and deal with the numbers and location of listeners, the regularity of listening and audience demographics. This paper addresses the problem of providing indicators of appreciation of programme or service quality. From the BBC's perspective in particular, the degree to which listeners trusted what they heard was of particular importance. Whereas audience measures can be used in broadly similar ways in different countries and cultures, assessing the perceived quality of service globally runs up against the problem of differences in meaning and interpretation in different cultures. What was needed firstly was an approach which allowed respondents to define in their own terms what they meant by trust and programme quality, using their criteria and priorities. Secondly we needed to find ways of quantifying this in a comparable way across cultures. The methodology which has been developed to solve this problem employs a technique developed by psychologists at Leeds University's Family Research Centre which combines attribution theory with current concepts of discourse analysis. A series of group discussions held in different locations produce a series of causal attributional statements from which it is possible to map the underlying structure of values applied to the area of international broadcasting. Analysis of these identifies the two kinds of values which appear to surround international broadcasting - "intrinsic" values to do with approval, and "empowering" values to do with listening. It also produces measures of the relative strength and salience of the components of these values in different cultural milieux. The second stage is to develop a series of agree/disagree statements derived from the values generated in different cultural settings which can be used on representative sample surveys. From this second stage, measures of the Effective Quality of the BBC's services and those of its major competitors are achieved. These are made comparable by the application of weighting criteria derived from the salience and strength of the relevant values in each cultural setting.
Several common problems in designing and evaluating nationally representative sampling frames for countries in the Middle East are identified, with Jordan being used as a case study. Due to the absence of reliable information on several key demographic variables for the population, and practical constraints on finance and time, a "hybrid" methodology combining random selection principles with a quota "overlay" was employed for a national survey of media use in Jordan in September 1993. The design and implementation of the study are described, and key results are presented. Reference is also made to problems encountered during the fieldwork stages, and the procedures used to address them.