RAJAR Says ‘No For Now’ To Electronic Measurement

RAJAR has decided not to introduce an electronic radio audience measurement system in the immediate future, despite claims from some in the industry that its current diary system is flawed (see TWG Research Claims Radio Listening Is Under-Represented).

The decision follows fifteen months of extensive testing of two audio meters, the Arbitron Portable People Meter and Radiocontrol wristwatch (see

RAJAR’s principle concern with both meters is that there is no consistency of results in the audiences recorded in terms of meter versus meter, casting doubts over the perceived accuracy of the electronic measurement systems.

The tests revealed the limited ability of the Radiocontrol audio-meter to distinguish between broadcast platforms and showed that the cost of establishing a panel for the Arbitron Portable People Meter, which would need to be six times larger than that used by BARB, would be too great.

RAJAR’s managing director, Jane O’Hara, said: “Neither audio-meter was originally designed for the UK radio market with its diverse requirements. Therefore it is not unduly surprising to discover that the devices, in their current form, have not met RAJAR’s stringent criteria.”

However, RAJAR insists that its decision does not mean that electronic measurement will never play a part in the survey. O’Hara added: “Meters will continue to be top of RAJAR’s agenda and we are to continue working with both audio-meter developers to see if the devices could be developed further.”

GfK Media recently published the results of the first ever electronic measurement survey of television and radio audiences, in a move that could challenge the existing industry systems by offering advertisers a single port of call for broadcast auditing (see New Study To Shake-Up Audience Measurement?).

RAJAR has been highly critical of the new study, commissioned by Kelvin MacKenzie’s Wireless Group, and believes that a new tool for collecting data must be measurably better than the present system, which has provided the currency for trading radio audiences for decades.

RAJAR: 020 7903 5350 www.rajar.co.uk

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