MediaCell London panel

Throughout 2012, RAJAR & IPSOS ran a limited London-based test in which 13 major radio stations in the area broadcast encoded signals, and 250 adults were recruited to participate with app-enabled phones. The purpose of the test was to understand recruitment and incentive thresholds as well as user compliance behaviour (e.g. was it switched on, carried, sending back data, etc?). It should be noted that the panel was not designed to produce survey quality audience stats.

Panel recruitment and turnover was extremely positive, and the pattern of usage recorded through the day was consistent with known behavioural patterns. There are still uncertainties that remain about EM, but the results were sufficiently encouraging for RAJAR to commit to further investigation.

In 2013, RAJAR and IPSOS will be investing in the panel to learn more about the capabilities of the device and a possible future role for EM in the UK. While there are questions around EM being an alternative measurement solution, RAJAR is keen to determine its potential to complement the existing survey through providing deeper audience flow insights for programmers, for example, in track switching behaviour and station loyalty over time. RAJAR will determine the long term value and viability of the MediaCell panel towards the end of 2013.

Audio Diary - radio in an audio world

Finally, with the introduction of the online diary, RAJAR now has the ability to re-contact previous survey participants in a cost-effective way. As new listening devices and capabilities emerge, conventional patterns of media consumption are evolving and progressing. To meet this challenge, RAJAR is developing a bi-annual audio diary to provide a new layer of time-centric insight into emerging listening behaviour, such as podcasting, listen-again, mobile and wider audio services.

The benchmark Audio Diary study has already been completed and the first results showing survey-on-survey trends will be made available to subscribers in Summer 2013.

If you have a great idea, a point of view, product or service relevant to the measurement of listening, please do not hesitate to get in touch, we are always keen to listen.

Further development plans for the online diary in 2013

RAJAR's vision is to provide respondents with a user-friendly experience where online listening data can be input on a variety of devices throughout the week - PC, laptop, tablet or smart phone.

RAJAR is evaluating the viability of extending the online offering beyond PCs onto mobile devices. That said, there are some interesting technical challenges to be overcome, so it is difficult to predict the outcome at this point in time.