‘How will audio measurement look in the future?’ was the crucial question raised by Grant Blackley, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Southern Cross Austereo, at the beginning of the session. “This is the first piece of the puzzle for Radio 360,” he said and welcomed Deb Hishon on the stage.
Deb Hishon, Media Measurement Director of GfK based in Australia, explained how GfK is continuously working on modernizing their methodology, currently preparing a launch of a new survey system Radio 360 in mid-year 2023. According to Hishon,, Radio 360 will enable the investigation of audio measurement data in more depth. The new methodology is based on three areas: digital currency, collecting streaming data straight from source and using the GfK Watch meter parameter.
Hishon elaborated on the core concepts on which Radio 360 works. Firstly, it is necessary to pay attention to the standardization of data. This needs to be achieved by cleaning individual station logs and extensive quality control.
“People don’t listen to radio just by themselves,” commented Hishon on co-listening, another aspect that their new system takes into consideration by implementing a dynamic algorithm. Lastly, Hishon mentioned the substantial difference between linear and streaming listeners which can be also analyzed thanks to Radio 360. From their previous survey, Gfk recorded that the streaming audience is usually younger and their listening peak tends to be later and last longer than the one of the linear audience. Analyzing the various listening patterns enables the stations to better plan their campaigns and thus increase the reach of the listeners.
Hybrid audio measurement is a topic many people would consider boring or uninteresting, however, if you look closely at what this actually is you would be surprised how intriguing it can be. Daryl Battaglia {Measurement and products and strategy at Triton Digital] explains the hybrid audio measurement as a combination of a sample plus the census. Collecting data requires a consistent approach that’s why it is so interesting how the data are being collected. The data is being collected from both mobile and computer devices mainly but not necessarily. The hybrid measurement is both the brawn and brain as Daryl portrayed it as a key part of your approach to strengthening the radio or audio platform you have. At the end of the session, Daryl played a very popular scene from the Jerry Maguire movie – “You complete me”. Which perfectly sums up the relationship between the sample and the census.
