MRG Evening Meeting- Future Perfect For The NRS?
Long established as a ‘gold standard’ in media research, the NRS can be prone to criticism for being slow to change. Introducing NRS Ltd’s managing director, Roger Pratt, as the speaker at yesterday’s MRG meeting, Telmar’s Belinda Beeftink pointed out that the organisation “needs to reflect the changing media environment.” It is hoped that a new research contract, due to commence in 2002, will introduce methods which will fulfil this need. With the shortlist of companies down to two, the presentations are due this Friday and a decision from the board is expected on 15 December. With this in mind, Pratt told the meeting what expectations were held for the new regime.
Having first of all described his organisation in the less-than-flattering terms used by some critics – the NRS is like a dinosaur, slow-moving, takes a long time to change direction and is likely to be extinct soon – Pratt decided to begin by lauding the qualities which he didn’t expect to have to change when new research methods were brought in.
The joint funding by the IPA, NPA and PPA, with ISBA keeping an eye on things, is thought to bring credibility to the findings produced and will therefore remain the same. So too will the continuous nature of the data available on newspapers and magazines and the large sample size of some 36,000 adults.
What has changed already is the number of newspaper sections covered by the survey. Until 1997 only 9 colour newspaper magazines were included in NRS data, but as Pratt pointed out “at this point, with the proliferation of newspaper supplements, 9 was no longer acceptable.” As a consequence, by 1998, the number of supplements surveyed was 21 and by November this year estimates for 37, representing around 90% of national newspaper display revenue were included in NRS figures.
With this in mind, he outlined another result of the proliferation of supplements – the resulting proliferation of terms. Would it be possible for the industry to create a universal terminology to classify all the pull-outs, one-offs, specials, supplements, magazines etc?
The advent of the new contract will also see the NRS use mixed methodology for the first time. While face-to-face interviews get more high-tech, it is thought that going back to pen and paper is the best way to tackle one of the shortfalls of the current system.
At present the response rate for NRS surveys in London is around 40%, compared to 65-70% elsewhere in the UK. It is thought that this may be more to do with Londoners being time-poor compared to the rest of the country, rather than being unwilling to complete the survey. In order to combat this problem, a self-completion survey has been designed, which could be left with a respondent if all attempts at gaining a face-to-face interview had failed. A positive response was reported by pilot respondents who used the surveys during September this year, and it is thought that the method will be introduced in Spring 2001.
For the future, a key requirement of the new contract will be the reduction of the title load per respondent (TLR). At the moment the survey asks questions about 440 different magazines, and with the additional newspaper sections and the growing number of titles on the magazine stands, this number could grow. However, the average respondent is counted in the AIR of only 3.7 magazines.
Both the companies shortlisted for the 2002 contract have suggested that filter questions could be used to reduce the TLR. Demographic and personal interest details could be fed into the computer during the interview, runs the theory, which would then produce a tailored, but reduced, list of titles to show the respondent, which shouldn’t reduce overall readerships. Faced with concerns about how accurate such as system would be, Pratt could only reassure his audience that field tests would be carried out first, to make sure titles didn’t slip through the net.
More changes with the new system will include newspaper data which expand “read any part” to a choice of total title package, supplements, business and finance sections and key in-paper sections, thanks to a revised system of prompts.
The new contract-holders have also been challenged with finding a way to measure specialist magazines, with the example being the burgeoning computer title sector. These sectors carry a high risk of title confusion, but detailed questioning could create an unbalanced interview. Both shortlisted candidates have put forward self-completion questionnaires as a solution, which could be left with respondents according to the results of the initial filtering questions.
In addition to the new survey, two off-survey studies are to be carried out in the near future. One is hoping to find a way of finding out which issue of the publication has been read when respondents only claim to have read a single one. A result on this one, warned Pratt, is “going to take time.”
The other study will see £250,000 spent on looking at Audience Accumulation over time, which will expand on the sort of study undertaken by Millward Brown in the past. Submissions to undertake this study are due by 15 December, which should commence in Spring next year.
The final flourish for Pratt was the announcement that the survey was to become paper-free, with all visual prompts, cards, lists and booklets brought on-screen. As he pointed out, this should make updating easier, quicker and cheaper. It could also pave the way to on-line self-completion surveys or interactive CD-ROM postal surveys.