The difficult balance of media measurement

Dr Roberta McConochie, a director of Arbitron Inc, argues that current media measurement methods are failing to cope with declining consumer cooperation, conservative media owners (still preferring traditional diary records) and advertisers and agencies wanting more complete measures of media usage, and data to help determine advertising accountability.

The Difficult Balance of Media Measurement

Roberta McConochieArbitron

Media measurement balances three marketplace forces: consumers, media and the buyers of media – advertisers and agencies. In the first decade of the 21st century, the balancing act has become strenuous. Maintaining integrity, utility and value in the service of all three masters may be approaching a level of difficulty beyond that of any single media-measurement organisation.

THE CONSUMER ANGLE

Consumers in many nations no longer unequivocally welcome researchers into their lives. In the 1940s and 1950s, when survey research was in its infancy in the US, researchers were able to...

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