The Future for Media Measurement.

A Boston MIT professor predicts that the cell phone and the home computer will become integrated. That bodes well for the cell phone as a media measurement device.” said Bob Jordan President of The Media Audit, which along with its world wide research partner, Ipsos, is proposing to use the Smart Cell Phone for electronic radio and multi-media audience measurement in the US.

“The cell phone is the fastest growing consumer item in history – up nearly 15% between 2003 and 2005” said Jordan quoting results from The Media Audit’s study of cell phone and media usage.

“The cell phone has become so integrated into American lifestyle that more adults own a cell phone than watch prime time TV on the average day” noted Jordan “Philip Greenspun’s observation that the cell phone and home computer will become integrated confirms our sense of the future and the importance of the cell phone for media measurement” added Jordan.

Philip Greenspun, a professor at MIT looks into the future with the question “What would you call a device that has a screen, a keyboard, storage for personal information such as contacts, email, documents, the ability to play audio and video files, some games, a spreadsheet program, and a communications capability? Does this sound like a personal computer? How about “mobile phone? “ Greenspun continues “A mobile phone has substantially all of the computing capabilities desired by a large fraction of the public. Why then would someone want to go to the trouble of installing and maintaining a personal computer (PC)?

“One of the requirements of radio’s Next Generation committee, which is evaluating proposals for future radio measurement systems, is to have a solution that is appropriate today, as well as in decades to come” noted Jim Higginbotham, Chairman and head of research at The Media Audit. “Annually, advertisers invest $22 billion dollars in radio, thus it is critical to have the most accurate reflection of radio and multi-media exposure.

This means radio needs to have a monitoring device that people will agree to carry and our studies indicate the cell phone is that device. Philip Greenspun’s observations that ‘the cell phone will absolutely become most people’s primary computing device’ points to the enhanced value of the cell phone for multi-media measurements for decades to come“.

With financial support of the radio industry, The Media Audit and Ipsos plan to launch a panel study of its media monitoring system in Houston this fall. The study of 2,500 persons aged 12 and older will be the first multi-media study of its kind in the world. In preparation for this study, The Media Audit and Ipsos currently are doing research with national panels and conducting a series of technical tests in Houston.

The Media Audit, a syndicated service of International Demographics, is a multi-media and marketing survey conducted in 85 cities across the US. The 35 year old service is used by more than 250 advertisers and their ad agencies to help define the market and to help shape media campaigns. More than 1,300 media subscribe to THE MEDIA AUDIT to sell their advertising value to the advertisers and ad agencies.

The syndicated study that covers over 450 target items including socioeconomic characteristics, life styles, business decision makers, product purchasing plans, retail shopping habits, travel history, supermarket shopping, stores shopped, products purchased, fast-food restaurants eaten in, soft drink consumption, brands purchased, health insurance coverage, leisure activities, banks used, credit cards used and other selected consumer characteristics important to local media and advertisers.

For more information at http://www.TheMediaAudit.com