Media Research Users Council - Radio Pilot (DAR vs. Diary)

Radio Pilot (DAR vs. Diary)

In March 2000, the Government invited the private sector into FM radio broadcasting by opening up the frequencies in the FM band (87.5-108 MHz). In this Phase I Policy of FM radio privatization, private operators were invited to bid for a 10-year license to set-up and operate FM radio stations. Around 10 players obtained licenses and this was the time when some of the major players like Radio City, Radio Mirchi and Red FM launched operations in a few cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi etc.

It is emerging as an important avenue for advertising in reaching unique audiences. Compared to other media it is not only cost effective but provides the advertiser an opportunity to communicate with local audiences. With radio gaining in importance as a medium for communication, audience measurement became critical to fuel the growth of advertising; for broadcasters rely solely on commercial airtime as their main source of revenue

In 2004, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM, GO 92.5 FM along with some other players approached the Media Research Users Council for Radio Measurement & the Indian Listenership Track (ILT) was born. It was commissioned in association with ACNielsen ORG-MARG using the Day-after-recall (DAR) method after assessing it against the Panel-based Diary methodology.

FM being a relatively new phenomenon in India in 2004, the radio industry was in its nascent stage. The lifecycle of adoption to FM would be in a trial phase for some time to come and as such ebb and flow of listeners was likely to be high with no set patterns of listening. Given the nascent stage of FM, the need was to enumerate audiences and capture the spectrum of listener universes in addition to listening behaviour.

The Diary method was found to be restrictive and the DAR methodology was found suitable given the early stage of FM as a medium to monitor stability of patronage to the medium - incidence, ebb & flow et al.

The Indian Listenership Track (ILT) was thus commissioned for Mumbai and Delhi based on Day-after-Recall methodology in 2004.

Since then Radio has evolved and has especially matured in the markets where Radio FM was first launched such as Mumbai and Delhi. With the implementation of FM Phase II, 338 licenses have been auctioned in 91 cities and MRUC felt that it is now time to revisit the current radio measurement methodology.

MRUC has therefore commissioned TNS to undertake a pilot study in Mumbai to assess radio audience measurement methodologies with the objective of determining methodology/methodologies most suitable to the current expansion of the medium in India.

In this pilot study, two methodologies viz the DAR and the Panel-based Diary methodology would be evaluated. The objective of the study is to understand listenership patterns using the following alternative methodologies

Day After Recall
Diary Panel

Daily collection of diaries
Weekly collection of diaries

The differences in listenership trends between DAR and Diary basis would be assessed through Coincidental checks. The DAR and Diary data will be verified through face-to-face or telephonic verification of real-time listening, especially keeping in mind the hard-to-interview audiences such as working men and youth.

Besides, one of the key objectives of the Pilot is to understand on-ground implementation problems with the diary panel as experienced with Television measurement in the past.

The idea of daily Diary collection is yet another innovative way of verifying compliance to filling up a Weekly collection Diary.

The pilot will be conducted in Mumbai and will run concurrently for DAR and the Diary panel. The fieldwork for the Pilot will be conducted in June-July and the results available by early August ‘07.

Pros & Cons of DAR vs Diary

DAR

Pros	Cons
Ensures better Representation	Need for large Sample Sizes : Cost
No need for establishment survey as respondent selection is through Random listing	Variability in data due to new sample interviewed each time
Easier to administer and tighter control as not left to respondent	Less accuracy due to lapse of information on account of elapse of a day
Better fix on channel share and cumulative reach because of random sampling	Ability to run audience accumulation is impaired

DIARY

Pros	Cons
SS controlled because of Higher No. of Observations per respondent.	Needs constant updating of universe. Especially for a ‘Nascent’ Market
Reach/frequency build up for atleast a week is possible.	Difficult to administer, needs extensive respondent training
Better understanding of consumer preferences and switching patterns	Reliant on respondents
	Compliance an issue with Lower SEC's

Registered User

New Initiatives

IRS CAPI

NCCS

Radio Pilot