Australian Radio Body Extends, Expands GfK Contract

Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has extended GfK's radio audience measurement contract by a further five years. The new deal includes investigation of a new multi-million-dollar Measurement Innovation Program (MIP), to explore the potential for a hybrid future for radio measurement.

GfK was initially awarded the contract in 2013, taking it from Nielsen Media which had delivered Australia's radio ratings for the previous 66 years.

Over the next three years, the MIP will underpin the development of a road map for the future for radio audience measurement, and build on testing already conducted by GfK. These tests include a trial of radio audience measurement via a smartphone app. Prior to the app tests, a wearable electronic meter in the form of a watch was also tested by GfK. This testing found the app and watch did not capture all radio listening, and that respondent non-compliance was an issue with metering technology. However, the tests did demonstrate that the pattern of listening captured by both the watch and the app is consistent with the diary methodology. Test results have provided insights to inform the investigation of a hybrid model, which may cover the use of electronic data to supplement and enrich diary data.

CRA CEO Joan Warner (pictured) comments: 'Radio listening is ubiquitous. It takes place across place, time and now platform. Our objective is for Australia to develop a world's first radio audience measurement system that uses an enviable suite of tools to provide an holistic view of Australian radio listening'.

Web sites: www.commercialradio.com.au and www.gfk.com .