RAJAR Outlines Next Steps, Includes BARB

UK radio audience research body RAJAR has agreed a further £500,000 to fund the next stage of its extensive testing and analysis of two audiometers, the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) and the Eurisko Media Monitor. TV research body BARB will piggyback its own test of the PPM on the RAJAR study.

MD Sally de la Bedoyere said the additional half million, 'on top of the £1.5 million we have already spent on audiometer testing, is further confirmation of our commitment to this ground breaking research'. She welcomed the involvement of BARB but was quick to quell any speculation that the move was part of a planned strategy to provide a single currency for television and radio broadcast'. Rather, it is an extremely pragmatic approach to accelerating learning, which can only serve to expand all our knowledge and understanding of the complexities of portable people meters. Rest assured the focus of RAJAR remains firmly on a roadmap to change designed to enhance audience measurement of BBC and Commercial radio stations'.

BARB Chief Exec Bjarne Thelin says the tests will 'gather more information about PPMs and maximise our understanding of issues such as rates of human compliance with the audiometers', in accordance with BARB's commitment when renewing contracts last year, to 'continually explore new methods and technologies'.

The national fieldwork tests start on June 6, 2005 and run for a 12-week period, and will focus on compliance and how respondents relate to the meters, as well as the performance of the two. 'In particular, we are looking to allay the concerns which arose from our last series of fieldwork tests' says de la Bedoyere. 'These include the actual time respondents put on the audiometers and whether they wear them all day; whether there is a time of day when they are less likely to wear them; whether there are any demographic groups which have a problem wearing them; and how children will cope with wearing/carrying them'.

Three fieldwork tests are to take place involving a sample of 3,500 adults (15+) representative of the UK population. In addition, children aged 6+ are to be recruited at a rate of one per every ten adults. The Arbitron PPM is to be placed with both a fixed panel, similar to BARB, of 700 respondents (15+ plus children) and a rolling panel, similar to the current diary method, of 1400 respondents (15+ plus children); while the Eurisko Media Monitor is to be placed with a rolling panel of 1400 respondents (15+ plus children). In addition, the PPM test will involve the encoding of a small number of television stations and RAJAR is to share compliance results with BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board).

RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and the CRCA (Commercial Radio Companies Association) and its board also includes the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA). The RAJAR survey supplies radio audience listening data to over 300 UK radio stations broadcasting across a range of platforms including analogue, digital, digital TV, satellite and Internet. The company is online at www.rajar.co.uk . BARB's web site is at www.barb.co.uk

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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