Irish Radio to Trial Ratings Alternative

Ireland's radio industry has announced that it will trial a new people metering audience measurement system next year, as a possible alternative to the current system used for the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) ratings.

Radio execs on the JNLR committee have consulted with Ipsos regarding testing the agency's mobile radio audience measurement system MediaCell in Ireland; and have also met with representatives of Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK, which currently uses people meter technology to measure the size of its audiences.

At present, the Ipsos MRBI-compiled JNLR survey questions 16,600 people over a twelve month period, with quarterly fieldwork, and is based on a 'day-after aided recall' methodology, in which respondents are asked questions about their recent listening habits.

According to the Irish Times, at a recent industry event, Today FM CEO Peter McPartlin (pictured) described people metering as 'an expensive technology' that had its own flaws, but added that he expected it would be introduced to Irish radio 'some day'.