SAARF to Go in Audience Currency Shake-Up

South African researchers are replacing industry association SAARF with a new Marketing Research Foundation, which will deliver an audience currency to replace the country's discontinued AMPS measure (All Media and Products Survey).

The replacement was first announced in February, in response to 'growing concerns' from marketers and their agencies about the brand, product and intermedia usage research vacuum that had been created after media owners and associations withdrew from SAARF (The South African Audience Research Foundation), and the resulting lack of funding for such research. The country's National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had resigned from the SAARF Board in 2015 after a dispute between the two organisations, and then decided to conduct its own radio research, for which TNS was subsequently awarded a five-year contract.

Three groups - the Marketing Association of South Africa MA(SA), the AMF (the Advertising Media Forum) and the Association for Communication and Advertising (the ACA) - have now jointly confirmed that an independent, benchmarked, and audited research initiative will focus on brands, products, and segmentation.

A minimum number of subscribers will be required to make the new research financially viable and sustainable: if there is insufficient take-up, SAARF will be wound down and closed, and there will no longer be a common industry currency in South Africa. However, should sufficient marketers sign up SAARF, which delivered AMPS for more than 30 years, will be replaced by a new Marketing Research Foundation which will handle the scope and final implementation plan for the project.

AMF Chairperson Virginia Hollis says the new research will provide a single integrated view of the South African market, focused on the needs of marketers and their agencies, and giving marketers control of design, specifications, and processes. Greg Garden (pictured), CEO of MA(SA) adds: 'The demise of AMPS has left a gaping hole in consumer based research. Marketers urgently need a new integrated view of the market to replace and build on AMPS, and a common 'currency' for intermedia insight to inform their strategies and planning. We consulted widely, and Marketers told us they are willing to pay for such a study through an equitable model, and want an independent industry body to deliver the research'.

Web site: www.saarf.co.za .