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Integrated audience measurement system for TV, radio, cinema, external advertising and print
Nuremberg, 14 June 2004 – Today, GfK unveils MediaWatch, its latest technical development for electronic media reach research. The wristwatch measures whatever mass media the wearer comes into contact with, wherever the wearer may be. The watch offers media companies, advertisers and agencies new options in the decision-making process when planning media content and advertising. The presentation takes place at this year’s international week of media research organized by ESOMAR and ARF, which starts today in Geneva
MediaWatch is a further development of the Radiocontrol audiometer developed by GfK subsidiary, Telecontrol in Switzerland, which electronically measures radio audiences. Like its predecessor, the new metering unit is designed in the form of a wristwatch, and it is the first technology worldwide which is equally able to measure the media contact of the wearer with radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, freesheets and other printed matter as well as cinema and outdoor advertising.
MediaWatch technology offers the media research industry a completely new approach. To date, research has been media-specific, which means it specializes in measuring the use of one particular medium. Now for the first time it is possible to carry out research into media consumption which is user-specific, and thereby record and analyze the complex multimedia mix to which people are exposed today.
The watch is a miracle of micro-technology. A recording unit records and encodes audio and radio signals three times a minute. The new MediaWatch is able to record data for up to four weeks before it has to be changed. If clients want, they can have docking stations installed for panel members which can be used to send the signals recorded during the day to the GfK IT centres overnight. These are compared with sample signals from programmes and offerings from all media and further processed for analysis purposes.
Petra Heinlein, the Management Board member responsible for the Media division commented: “This revolutionary technology for media research demonstrates again that we are among the world leaders when it comes to measuring methods and technology. We are confident that our new measurement instruments point to the future for media research.”
Professor Matthias Steinman, the Chief Executive Officer of Telecontrol, added: “Radiocontrol itself represented a highly innovative step in radio audience measurement, which in its traditional form relies heavily on the recall abilities of radio users. Radiocontrol and the new, even more comprehensive, MediaWatch system, enable us to precisely measure the variety of media contacts to which people are exposed these days.
Media audience measurement is the currency for TV and radio stations as well as for newspapers and magazines. The media use it as the basis for pricing electronic and printed advertising, and for advertisers, it is the basis for media planning. Information provided by media research also supports the editorial planning programmes and media content.
The new technology is to be presented for the first time to around 400 media research specialists from around the world at the “Week of Audience Measurement” organized by the European Market Research Association, ESOMAR, and the US Advertising Research Foundation. Following comprehensive in-house tests at GfK, the device is now to be used with clients in the first pilot surveys.
Measurement technology and Telecontrol
AG Swiss-based GfK subsidiary Telecontrol does not just supply GfK media research companies with audience measurement technology for TV, and more recently, radio; its services are also used by other companies across the globe.
Today Telecontrol’s TV meter is used by twelve TV audience research panels in eleven different countries. Recently Telecontrol has supplied 1,000 such devices to the Indian company, Decision Craft, for use in representative random household surveys in two major Indian cities. The precision, reliability and technical options offered are seen as state of the art worldwide.
The Radiocontrol technology, which electronically measures radio audiences, took five years to develop and was first presented to the public in 1998. Since 2001, the electronic system has been officially used to measure listening behaviour by Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse as well as by the Wireless Group in the UK since 2002. Pilot projects are also running in ten other countries in and outside Europe.
GfK - Media division
The GfK Group is the leading provider of quantitative media research in Europe and provides its service in 22 countries. The range comprises quantitative and qualitative research in TV, radio, print, posters and the Internet.
GfK has many years’ experience in particular in ongoing TV and radio research. GfK companies carry out TV audience research in seven European countries, namely Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and the Ukraine.
Through its subsidiary, Telecontrol, GfK is also one of the leading providers of measurement technology in terms of quality and innovation worldwide.
The GfK Group
The GfK Group, the No. 5 market research organization worldwide, is active in five business divisions, Consumer Tracking, HealthCare, Non-Food Tracking, Media and Ad Hoc Research. In addition to 15 German subsidiaries, the company has over 120 subsidiaries and affiliates located in 50 countries. Of a current total of around 5,100 employees, approx. 1,450 are based in Germany. For further information, visit our website: www.gfk.de.
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