Abstract:

The single-source based input-output check is, of course, intended for marketing research; it makes it possible to investigate campaign findings accurately, deploy advertising vehicles to best advantage and lastly, to improve the advertising media. On the other hand, the single-source method clearly enriches research in the media sciences also. Not only does it measure intermediary connections in the use of mass media, the input-output check too is of interest, though more with a view to scientific knowledge rather than to potential economic applications. Single source undoubtedly comes closer to dealing with the above-mentioned problem than most of the investigation methods in current use. The idea in itself is not new: the Advertising Research Foundation developed a single-source survey prototype for assessing advertising vehicles as early as 1961 and this model was put into practice in a panel of cable-TV households . For single source to come into its own, the following elements had to be refined: - computer, - scanner, - measuring instruments and barcodes. The 1980s have provided the necessary technical prerequisites for applying single source in a wide variety of fields, and in the 1990s, the extensive availability of these elements will create a cost-benefit ratio which ensures their application in practice. I should now like to go on to introduce the latest single-source tests conducted using the TELECONTROL system