The UK media research industry is well thought of globally but still has a lot to learn from other countries.
This was the general view of the panellists at yesterday’s MediaTel Group ‘Future of Media Research’ full-day seminar held in London.
Speaking at the morning’s keynote session, Brian Jacobs, founder of Brian Jacobs Associates, said: “In terms of technique, commitment and all those things, the UK JIC model is admired.”
Fellow panelist Nick Hiddleston, worldwide research director at ZenithOptimedia, agreed: “In the UK we’re rigorous, detailed, meticulous, it has to be the right way of doing it.”
However, Point Logic managing director Tim Foley argued that in the UK it would be difficult to get media research wrong as it does not have the structural difficulties faced by some countries, such as Japan and the US.
He said: “Japan has a regional structure so you have to measure all the big cities and almost give it an equal weight as you would do with a national measurement.”
Foley added: “If you contrast regional markets with the UK, the UK has got it fairly easy because it has got a big economy and a national type measurement.”
All three panellists agreed that the rigorousness of research in the UK is a good thing, but it can also hold back the innovation and development seen in global markets.
Foley said that there is more willingness to innovate in small markets, while Jacobs added that in markets outside the UK “what you see…is less talk and more do”.
The general consensus was that countries with low GDP per-head tend to innovate and be more flexible when it comes to media research, though the research is not always as sophisticated due to lack of financial backing.
Hiddleston also referred to the Asian market as “committed and dedicated to research”, saying that its financial model sees it deliver specific solutions for specific problems.
He said: “The thing we need to learn from other markets is to just go and do it. That’s the real issue.”
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