MacKenzie Sets Date For RAJAR Court Battle
Wireless Group chairman, Kelvin MacKenzie, will make one final attempt to persuade RAJAR to endorse the electronic measurement of radio audiences before he begins legal proceedings against the research body next month.
Speaking at the Media Research Group Conference yesterday, MacKenzie claimed RAJAR’s recent decision not to endorse the electronic measurement system he has been funding with GfK, has caused Wireless Group to lose valuable advertising revenue (see RAJAR Says ‘No For Now’ To Electronic Measurement).
MacKenzie plans to have one last meeting with RAJAR on 18 December to try and persuade it to introduce the electronic metering system. However, if no agreement is reached he will attempt to sue RAJAR for the £1.5 million a month he claims the current diary system is costing his company.
The outspoken former Sun editor said: “I am going to court, RAJAR is going to court and at the end of the day we’ll find out whose being cheated by this.”
MacKenzie claims RAJAR’s diary system of measurement is damaging advertising revenue at his flagship talkSPORT station by underestimating the size of its audience. The latest officially sanctioned RAJAR figures put talkSPORT’s weekly reach at around 1.9 million, but GfK’s contentious electronic survey claims the station reaches almost 6.6 million listeners (see GfK Claims Out Of Home Viewing Boosted Sky Sports).
In his usual flamboyant manner, MacKenzie said: “My competitors are receiving an advertising premium for an audience that they don’t possess, while we are suffering a discount for inaccurate ratings – and I want my money.”
RAJAR’s out-going managing director, Jane O’Hara (see RAJAR’s O’Hara To Step Down As Managing Director), defended the company’s decision to delay switching to the Radiocontrol wristwatch or Portable People Meter after extensive tests showed that neither meter was capable of delivering a radio measurement system that would meet the ‘current gold standard’ (see RAJAR Says ‘No For Now’ To Electronic Measurement).
The audience research body recently announced plans to invest a further £500,000 in testing electronic audience meters as soon as new generation technology is made available for trial in 2004 (see RAJAR To Invest In Further Electronic Measurement Trials).
Speaking at the same conference, O’Hara insisted that if RAJAR was supplied with the second generation meters as promised in July 2004 and if the results of the ensuing tests were positive, then it was quite possible that some kind of decision with regard to the introduction of a new trading currency, could come by this time next year.
Earlier this year RAJAR’s decision to say ‘no for now’ to electronic measurement received the widespread support of advertisers keen to maintain the integrity of the currency used to trade radio audiences (see Agencies Support Rejection Of Electronic Measurement).
RAJAR: 020 7903 535 www.rajar.co.uk
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