Media Audit/Ipsos Study: 66% Prefer Cell Phone For Radio Survey

People are far more likely to agree to participate in a research study using a cell phone than a pager-like device, according to a national telephone survey of 1,000 randomly selected adults 18+  conducted last week (JULY 11-17) by THE MEDIA AUDIT/IPSOS as part of their bid for the US radio ratings contract. 

THE MEDIA AUDIT President BOB JORDAN said, "This is a landmark study. To our knowledge, no study like this has been done before. The research shows adults are 3.5 times more likely to agree to participate in a panel study using a cell phone (66%) versus 18% who would agree to carry a pager. These findings coincide with common sense and put a dimension to what most people already believe.  The cell phone is an integral part of people's lives today. The less disruptive the monitoring device, the more inclined people are to cooperate. Greater cooperation leads to more reliable and accurate research. Of the monitoring devices that are being used today, cell phones are the least intrusive to our life styles. This is why we say the cell phone is the simple, common sense solution for media measurement today and for tomorrow."

"These findings are very significant for the radio industry as the monitoring device has a direct impact on the results." commented THE MEDIA AUDIT Chairman JIM HIGGINBOTHAM. "The monitoring device is one of the key foundations to good research. The media industry understands the principle that the monitoring device impacts the results. That's why the industry wishes to drop the diary in preference to electronic measurements. There's concern that the diary, as a collection instrument, is adversely affecting radio ratings results. For astute researchers, this kind of scrutiny and concern also extends to the different devices that can be used for electronic ratings."

HIGGINBOTHAM continued, "The correct monitoring device will lead to higher cooperation rates and less sample bias. Better cooperation leads to more representative samples. And this means a more reliable and accurate reflection of the market."

THE MEDIA AUDIT/IPSOS will submit this study to the MEDIA RATING COUNCIL (MRC) as part of the Phase l Proof of Concept phase of the accreditation process.

Arbitron Responds With "Real Results"

ARBITRON VP/Communications THOM MOCARSKY responded to THE MEDIA AUDIT study released WEDNESDAY evening by noting that the telephone survey asked a single hypothetical question among only 1,000 people -- half the number of people who have been carrying PPMs in HOUSTON for the past year.

Below is ARBITRON's demographic breakdown of average daily PPM carry times from HOUSTON PPM testing from JANUARY-JUNE 2006:

Men 18-34 - 14 hours 57 minutes.
Women 18-34 - 14 hours 11 minutes
Men 35-54 - 15 hours 17 minutes
Women 35-54 - 14 hours 56 minutes 

MOCARSKY points out, "ARBITRON never describes the PPM as a `pager' to consumers, we call it a `Personal Meter.' ARBITRON has shown in real field trials in a real radio market that people really do carry the PPM. The PPM system measures compliance every day. We know when and for how long people participate."

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