Following the announcement that the NPA is to serve notice on the National Readership Survey (NRS), the UK’s newspaper publishers – in co-operation with consumer magazine publishers, leading advertisers and agencies – have announced that they aim to introduce a new system of measurement across multiple platforms from early 2016.
The process, initiated by the NPA, will also see the publication on 31 October 2014 of a formal Request for Proposals, inviting a range of research and data analytics providers to bid to supply a new multi-platform measurement system for newspaper and consumer magazine brands.
The deadline for submissions under the RFP will be 5 December 2014 and the new system will be trialled from mid-2015.
Managed by Mediatique Limited, the RFP process will have guidance from an industry advisory group, which will be chaired by Jed Glanvill and made up of the NPA and representatives from industry bodies, the IPA, ISBA and PPA. The NRS and Ipsos MORI will continue to be fully consulted during the process.
As well as a new approach to audience measurement, the current structure and governance model, as embodied by the NRS, will also be considered as part of the review.
A new measurement system hopes to establish “credible, comparable, scaleable, tradeable and transparent metrics that work across multiple platforms and permit buyers and sellers to quantify engagement with published media brands via these multiple routes.”
Rufus Olins, CEO of Newsworks, the marketing body for national newspapers, said: “The RFP process will be rigorous, objective, inclusive and fair. All stakeholders have agreed that the measurement system for published media and their digital variants has not sufficiently evolved to account for an increasingly multi-platform environment.
“We are seeking to establish a new measurement system for published media in the UK, capable of tracking readership and usage across multiple platforms and securing consistent measures of engagement applicable across the industry.”
Barry McIlheney, PPA chief executive, added: “The PPA is working in collaboration with the NPA, IPA and ISBA to establish an audience measurement solution which robustly measures the growing reach of published media brands across platforms.
“We are very keen to explore solutions which enable us to understand more about how consumers are connecting, engaging and interacting with our content and brands now and as they evolve into the future. It is vital that we provide our customers with the tools they need to effectively plan and trade with us in a multi-platform environment.”
