Radio Audience Measurement case study

Radio Audience Measurement (RAM): Understanding radio listener’s behavior.

© Prasad Kulkarni, 

This case let is prepared in 2008.

Radio has emerged as an attractive media to reach urban consumer. The radio once considered as u an attractive option to promote the product has shown its resilience. The entry of private companies in the FM space rejuvenated the competition. The big companies like Reliance, Sun network, Sky group, Bennett and Coleman and Jubilant group further fuelled the competition. Every company started declaring themselves as No.1. This has resulted in the utter confusion in the minds of advertisers. To avoid this confusion TAM India network, Neilson and IMRB introduced the concept Radio Audio Measurement (RAM).

A methodology used in the Radio Audience Measurement:

Radio Audience Measurement will pass through three phases. They are radio establishment survey, Panel recruitment, counseling and reporting, and training.

1. Radio establishment survey: In this stage radio ownership, a reach of the radio channels and habits of an audience are measured. This will help Ram to identify the target panel members by whom company gets continuous data. This survey was conducted for 7 weeks in which 4.5 weeks are used for field work, 1.5 weeks for validation and one week for reporting and analysis and presentation. This annual survey will have 3000 sample per city. The survey is conducted through random sampling method keeping in mind about the SEC, age and gender control.

2. Panel recruitment, counseling, and reporting: This phase involves three stages. In the first stage, survey sample profiling is done so that company can recruit the right audience for the panel. In the second stage recruitment of the profiled sample will take place and in the last stage which is called as cool off period panel performance are measured against set standard norms. This 11-week long phase will see that only one person is selected per home and 480 individuals are selected per city. This also keeps in mind that it selects 120 individuals /SEC, 240 individuals /gender and 96 individuals per age band.

3. Training:  The selected panel members are trained using dummy data and e- learning curriculum are given.

Conflicting views:

Radio audience measurement is not just TAM India’s domain; Media research users’ Council (MRUC) conducts ILT (Indian listenership track). ILT depends on the day after recall method i.e. listeners are asked about the program after one day of listening. RAM collects its data by monitoring the panel’s dairy system. Prashant Pandey CEO of Radio Mirchi openly expressed his reservations against dairy system used in the TAM’s research.  Contradictory views have emerged from the star group’s radio city which expressed their happiness about the TAM‘s radio audio measurement.  Some of the radio industry insiders feel that electronic system which measures automatically are better than sample-based surveys.  But the cost is a big issue in electronic measurement. Anand Chakravarthy of Big 92.7 feels that these radio audience measurement agencies should give weekly data rather than monthly data. Some industry observers feel that numbers of cities covered are not enough to conclude on radio listenership. Add to all these, IMRB a research agency introduced radio express another measurement system which further complicated the advertisers' media planning.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which one of the radio measurement do you think appropriate for the Indian industry? Comment.

2. Is it possible to measure the behavior of a listener through an electronic medium? If yes give reasons.