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GfK has unveiled a wristwatch which it claims measures 'whatever mass media the wearer comes into contact with, wherever the wearer may be'. MediaWatch made its debut at the international 'Week of Audience Measurement' organized by ESOMAR and ARF in Geneva, beginning yesterday.

MediaWatch is a further development of the Radiocontrol audiometer developed by GfK's measurement technology subsidiary, Telecontrol in Switzerland. The new Watch extends coverage from radio only to include TV, newspapers, magazines and other printed matter as well as cinema and outdoor advertising.

According to GfK, the Watch is the first technology worldwide to enable user-specific research into media consumption, as opposed to media-specific - and therefore the first to record and analyze the complex multimedia mix to which people are exposed today.

A recording unit records and encodes audio and radio signals three times a minute, and stores up to 4 weeks of data at a time. If required, docking stations can be installed for panel members in order to send signals recorded during the day to the GfK IT centres overnight.

Telecontrol sells its products to other companies than GfK, and its TV meter is used by twelve audience research panels in eleven different countries. The Radiocontrol technology, which electronically measures radio audiences, took five years to develop and has been used since 2001 to measure listening behaviour by Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse, and since 2002 by the Wireless Group in the UK. Pilot projects are running in ten other countries in and outside Europe.

Petra Heinlein, the GfK Management Board member responsible for the Media division, says the Watch is 'revolutionary' and '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'.

GfK's web site is at www.gfk.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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