Future of Media Research: People-focused metrics and new recruits hold the key
People are the key to getting the best results from media research, according to the panellists at MediaTel Group’s Future of Media Research seminar in London this morning.
The focus has moved away from data, and now lies with consumers. “Think less about researching media, and more about researching people,” Stuart McDonald, head of insight at News International said as soon as the debate started.
Fellow panellist Lynne Robinson, research director at the IPA, agreed, saying there has been a notable change in methodologies since the recession. New technologies have allowed for quality-focused and consumer-centric research models, according to Robinson.
As Nielsen’s Louise Ainsworth put it in her presentation – it’s a case of “new media, new metrics”. Ross Williams from Ipsos talked delegates through the new people-focused possibilities, which include GPS-tracking, the latest eye-trackers and neuroscience / bio-metrics.
New systems can measure everything from what your eye follows on the escalator of the tube to how your brain reacts to certain adverts in a sub-conscious way.
However, while the panel encouraged new measurement tools, they also commented on the down sides. There are more and more ways of measuring media consumption, interest and effectiveness, which in turn creates masses of data. Data is fundamental to the planning and buying process, however, the panel agrued that there is so much data planners are struggling to manage it.
Justin Gibbons, managing partner of Work Research, said integration is just as important to agencies as accountability now. “Planners want to know how to manage all the metrics because it’s become so complex,” he said.
In theory, TouchPoints should provide the answer, bringing together the currencies into one manageable system. However, TouchPoints inevitably holds lots of detailed data, which is difficult to fully understand, least of all for new entrees to the media world.
The panellist and audience were quick to pick up on the fact that there is less and less talent joining the industry, and the ones that have are not being trained properly, and as a result struggle to use and understand metrics.
“It’s difficult for the industry, there are a lack of younger recruits and a real demand for good talent,” Laura Chaibi, director of research at Yahoo! Europe, commented.
For Richard Bedwell, a consultant for Bedwell Media, a new generation of media recruits, who can be properly trained to use a system like TouchPoints are the real future for the media research industry.
“What we need is a new generation who did not know life before TouchPoints”, he said, explaining that they would be the kind of people to really get to grips with the latest consumer-centric opportunities and data.