Abstract:

Single-source, an expression being used in the United States to describe a system that would combine the measurement of an individual consumer's product purchase and TV viewing behavior, is widely believed to hold a high potential solution to the problem of how best to increase the efficiency of everyday advertising communications with consumers. However, before single-source can become a reality, in-home measurement techniques, as practiced by many of the world's research organizations, must be dramatically upgraded through the use of modern electronics. In Denver, Colorado, a system called ScanAmerica, with the potential to satisfy the world's growing need for single-source measurement, has been successfully installed. Development of this service is supported by two leading U.S. market research firms: the Arbitron Ratings Company and SAMI, Inc. Today's conference speech will discuss the research design considerations used in developing ScanAmerica. Some early findings from the Denver project will also be presented.