April 8, 2006
Measuring Ad Audience Via Cell Phones
Several audience-measurement companies are developing tools to better gauge the connection between media exposure and consumer behavior, writes The Wall Street Journal [via MIT Advertising Lab.]
A dark horse in the race is Integrated Media Measurement Inc. that is using specially adapted cellphones to measure what consumers listen to and see. The company has developed software that helps the phones take samples of nearby sounds, which are identified by comparing them against a database.
Besides television and radio, IMMI says the technology can track exposure to CDs, DVDs, videogames, sporting events, audio and video on portable gadgets and movies in theaters. The company has been testing its system for nine months with about 200 consumers in Sacramento, Calif., and hopes to help answer tricky questions. They include: How often are TV shows watched outside the home? Which songs prompt listeners to change radio stations? Which movie trailers get viewers to go to the theater?
The field has plenty of competition. Media Audit has collaborated with Ipsos SA on a cellphone-based measurement system being tested by such companies as radio-station owner Clear Channel Communications Inc.
However, some companies argue that cellphones could lead to distorted research. Survey participants, for example, could change how often they carry or converse on phones or download content to them.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2006/04/012021.htm
