The Wireless Group has begun testing a new wristwatch audience measurement device which it claims will provide a more accurate picture of exactly which radio stations people listen to.
The device is completely portable and works by recording the radio frequency that listeners are tuned in to. The Wireless Group’s chairman, Kelvin MacKenzie, claims that the new electronic measurement device will provide more accurate data than the current RAJAR system.
A spokesman for TWG said: “There is a definite feeling within the industry that we need to move on it terms of audience measurement. It is clear that the RAJAR figures can be improved upon and Kelvin MacKenzie has widely expressed his opinion that they are inaccurate” (see MacKenzie Attacks Rajar’s ‘Widely Discredited’ Research Methods).
Under the current RAJAR system, listening figures are compiled through the use of data diaries, which require listeners to remember exactly what radio stations they have been tuned into. The system has been criticised in the past and TWG hopes to implement the new device as a “more reliable way of gauging radio listening.”
A spokeswoman for RAJAR said: “The current system is generally regarded as one of the best surveys in the world. RAJAR uses the diary system to survey 130,000 listeners in 700 different survey areas across the country and our 260 members are all quite happy with the service we provide.”
She added: “RAJAR has started to test a similar device [to the one being tested by TWG], but there is some concern that it won’t deliver as well as the current system. The wristwatch device only records for four seconds in every minute and before we move to an electronic measurement system we want to make sure that it works” (see RAJAR To Test Electronic Meters).
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