MRG Conference: Media Mergers Will Create Better Research

The Communications Bill will create larger media owners which can use their power to force agency groups to work together to produce better research, according to Carlton TV’s marketing director, Fran Cassidy.

Delivering her Keynote speech at this year’s MRG Conference in Budapest, Cassidy warned researchers that media planners could turn to “blander” research tools as the liberalisation of the media ownership regulations makes the media landscape more complicated.

She called on the industry to be “smart” in helping to avoid this, saying: “All research needs to do is to reduce data to some kind of formula, which stands on its predicted validity. In the communications research field, predicted validity is based on what people tell us.”

However, Cassidy went on to warn researchers of the danger of interpreting information without attempting to properly understand the consumer. She spoke of the importance of “focussing on real human behaviour”, saying: “Researchers need to get back to basic communications theory. They need to get more skill sets and more spontaneous responses to research.”

She concluded her speech by calling to delegates to protect the existing media research currencies, saying: “Research currencies generate revenue, so for God’s sake protect them.”

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