| Advertising spends on radio in India are growing at an impressive pace. Audience measurement tools for this medium though, are yet to acquire sophistication. MARK NEELY, regional director-Radio research, Nielsen Media Research, tells Business Standard about some global trends. |
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| How effectual is radio audience measurement in India today? |
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| Indian Listenership Track (ILT) is the default audience study in India, which uses the “next-day recall” methodology. In most mature markets it is the seven-day diary entry method that is used, where respondents are required to make diary entries for every quarter hour for a fixed time period every day. It is far more accurate. |
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| What is the future direction then for radio research? |
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| We believe that electronic RAM (radio audience measurement) is the way forward. Research burden on respondents needs to be minimised, and multimedia measurement (television, cinema, radio) through the same individual should be the goal. |
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| We have the commercial rights in the Asia Pacific region, for the watch meter methodology of radio audience measurement. It is already in commercial operation in Switzerland. |
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| The watch meter is a standard sized “Swatch” worn on the respondent's wrist for a seven day period. It captures sound grabs from stations the respondent is exposed, later matched with a total digital recording of all stations on the market. It even tracks television and cinema exposures. Testing is being done in several countries although no other country has yet commissioned electronic monitoring. |
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| How are consumers short-listed for research? |
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| There really is no consumer profiling in India today beyond basic listenership figures. For example, in some countries, we have introduced a lifestyle questionnaire along with the diary method that tracks lifestyle choices of listeners tuned into each station. |
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| That kind of knowledge helps media planners and buyers segmentalise their audience and decide which radio station works best for them. |
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| Hopefully the catalyst in India will be the increase in number of licenses, and the resulting competition...the radio industry will then be forced to commission research. |
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| How credible has radio become to Indian advertisers? |
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| India has shown a jump of 38 per cent in radio advertising revenues from 2005-06, when the average year-on-year growth in the Asia-Pacific region is between 10-17 per cent. That shows that the medium is working for advertisers. |
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| FMCG spend on radio advertising here is very low, but that is the case in most countries. Radio usually works best for local retailers and businesses. |
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