... cell phones as media measurement devices.
There is an article in this morning's eMarketer Newsletter that outlines the projected growth in mobile advertising revenue. The teaser line for reading the article is "No ads on your mobile phone lately? Don't worry, they're on their way. Full Article"
The article is built around this chart:
On September 7th, AdAge carried an article under the headlines "Clear Channel Streaming Radio to Cellphones. Next Step in Making Radio Available Anytime, Anywhere." (PPMNews noted the headline with some humor when it appeared.)
Don't headlines like these take the "gizmo" discussion in a whole new direction? What
bias does a cell phone introduce if it is both the media receiver and the measurement device? Would a broadcaster having a presence on the cell phone have an advantage in the ratings process if the mobile subscriber was also a listener on his or her cell phone? Would a terrestrial broadcaster have a disadvantage if they were not streaming on mobile devices?
One of the most important areas to consider, in my opinion, is the marketing problem opportunity. If the cell phone is the measurement device and the cell phone can receive various marketing messages ranging from text messages to full motion and sound streams, what bias could those being rated introduce into the system by sending a marketing message to the measurement device?
Being facetious again, imagine the potential revenue stream that Arbitron would have if a radio station could send an ad to a panelist RIGHT ON THE PPM suggesting that the panelist "tune in now!" Even better, what if the panelist could then just tune in the station right on the PPM device's FM or cellular receiver?
If that sounds so outrageous, why would it be different with a cell phone measurement device?
Some of the primary arguments for the cell phone as media measurement device revolve around "people only want to carry one thing" and "people will return home to get their cell phone when they won't return home to get their pager-like-media-monitoring-device."
That may be true, of course, unless they need their pager-like-device to get traffic and weather together on the 8's.
MSO
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