This week saw a bit of a tour de force for BBC1’s main soap opera Eastenders, when instead of the usual drudge round the various different residents of Albert Square, the script writers decided to focus on just four main characters. Monday’s episode, watched by 14.32 million people, set things in motion when Roy Evans… Continue reading TV Viewing Summary W/E 01/11/98
Belinda Beeftink’s opening address as chairperson of the MRG talked of researchers “growing up” – a couple of hours later the traditional researcher had been gunned down with scarcely a whimper in response. The assassination, subtle in some cases, merciless in others, had been led by client, research company and independent media strategist.The last was… Continue reading Reflections On The 1998 MRG Conference, Nice
Bob Hulks bounded on to the MRG conference platform on Friday afternoon as independent chairman of the NPA Review Group, charged by all national newspaper publishers with “putting newspapers at the forefront of media research”.Newspaper investment in research is minimal, said Hulks – approximately 0.08p per £1 of advertising revenue (TV is about 0.32p, radio… Continue reading Newspapers “will take research initiative”
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced this week that it is to launch its first ever National Audience Survey. Based on data collected by Fletcher Research, the survey is intended to provide online advertisers with regular and objective facts about user demographics and behaviour. It will report twice yearly on internet usage in the UK.Much… Continue reading First National Survey Of Internet Use
The Radio Authority published its third quarterly bulletin for 1998 today. The RA dealt with 364 written complaints about programming and related matters during this period.280 of those complaints were about Xfm, which was fined by the RA after its move to Capital when it failed to fulfill its promise of performance (see Newsline).Another 90… Continue reading Radio Authority Recieves 280 Complaints Against Xfm
When Martin Sorrell opened the Spring 1997 MRG Conference in Dublin he spoke of his aim that WPP should be able to challenge the likes of McKinseys in offering strategic advice to advertisers.Agencies are well-qualified to do so, he said, but either not highly enough regarded or simply not geared up to provide such lucrative… Continue reading MRG Conference Kicks Off In France
Neil Shepherd-Smith, a consultant already to two JICs, appeared to have his eyes on a third when he queried elements of the new RAJAR Gold Standard methodology at this year’s MRG. He believed the model took no account of the number of spots in a schedule, and that the new standard was flawed enough that… Continue reading “All that Glistens is not Gold”
The consultant Neil Shepherd-Smith was the next to take the stand at this Week’s MRG conference to talk us through the methodology used to create the POSTAR data (see Newsline).Neil first covered the subject of poster panel classification and why it is so necessary to do this. Outdoor is the most difficult medium to research… Continue reading The Future Is Nigh: Poster Classification In The 21st Century
Christina Hartley of IPC Weeklies used a “soap-box” session at the conference to query the validity of NRS and TGI readership data – and in particular the differences between the two surveys. Using examples from Now magazine and TV & Satellite Week which showed significant discrepancies in total audience and audience composition respectively, she asked… Continue reading NRS and TGI – “More Questions Than Answers”
“Advertising avoidance is the biggest issue facing us as media researchers”, said Ivor Hussein, research director of Western International Media, at this years MRG Conference in Nice. “It is an issue that has been ignored for far too long”, he told the conference. It must be accepted that advertising is providing a diminishing return on… Continue reading Who are these “Ad Avoiders”?
