TNS helps Guardian Newspapers scoop award

TNS' Media and Internet, Television and Radio Audience Measurement (iTRAM) divisions have helped the Guardian Newspapers Ltd and Sky Media scoop the gold and silver awards for 'Best Research Initiative' at this year's Media Week Awards.

The annual industry-leading awards, held at the Grosvenor House Park Lane in London on Wednesday 25 October, are designed to celebrate the best work, businesses and brands in the media business.

Guardian Newspapers Ltd won the gold award for 'Best Research Initiative' for its 'Impact Research' study carried out by TNS Media – research commissioned by the paper to measure the impact that its change from broadsheet to Berliner format in September 2005 had on its readers. The study was designed to measure the effectiveness of the newspaper's print advertising in this smaller format, in response to a costly argument within the media industry that a page should be half the price if it is half the size.

The 'Impact Research' - the first of its kind in the UK and the first globally to employ this particular methodology - involved comparing the results of hall tests carried out on 1,032 Guardian readers, half who were exposed to a Guardian Berliner, half a Guardian broadsheet. Advertising impact was measured by prompted recall, and the results revealed that the driving factor for advertising effectiveness is page dominance. There was no change in impact between advertisements in the broadsheets and advertisements in the Berliner as long as proportionality was maintained.

The silver award for 'Best Research Initiative' was given to Sky Media for its SkyView project - an audience research project carried out by TNS iTRAM, designed to deliver new insights into the benefits of advertising to digital satellite viewers. SkyView is an audience research panel of 20,000 homes which have their viewing constantly monitored. Internally, Sky Media uses it to gain a better understanding of subscribers in relation to their viewing behaviour and how Sky's technology is being used by customers.

The Guardian and Sky Media beat off rivals Channel 4, JCDecaux Airport, Mediaedge:cia and Viacom Brand Solutions to secure the top slots.

Jennie Beck, Head of TNS Media commented: "We are thrilled to be part of the winning team. The Guardian Berliner launch was one of the highlights of the media year and this research project was a great example of media owner and agency working together to tackle industry concerns head on and addressing them in an imaginative, robust and convincing way."

Andrea Mezzasalma, Global Head of TNS iTRAM added: "This is an exciting win for us, and it shows our dedication to delivering innovative thought leadership to provide the most valuable service possible to our clients."

For more information, visit TNS's website www.tns-global.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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