‘Silo’ media measurement will end and will be replaced with Multi-Media Measurement.

Attending the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Bob Jordan, President of The Media Audit, predicted that single media measurement will be a thing of the past. Jordan made the comment as two media industries, radio and outdoor, contemplate their measurement future.

The Traffic Audit Bureau which is staging its annual convention in Palm Springs Monday and Tuesday (April 24 and 25th) issued an RFP for outdoor rating service in late 2005. Today it is expected to make an announcement on which research company it will commission to do outdoor ratings research.

Meanwhile 200 miles away in Las Vegas, the Next Generation radio committee is meeting at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention to discuss next steps in its selection of an electronic radio measurement system.

“Historically media measurement companies have focused on measuring single media – as if the media were a silos” said Bob Jordan. “Discussions with advertising agencies in recent years have revealed advertisers are less interested in just radio listeners or just newspaper readers. Instead advertisers are interested in consumers and their exposure to all media.

Advertisers want to know about the various media touch points as the consumer moves through the day. They want to communicate and engage the consumer, e.g. radio as they get up in the morning and outdoor as they travel to work. The Media Audit/Ipsos Smart Cell Phone is uniquely suited to multi-media measurement.”

“Single source multi-media measurement is the Holy Grail in media research” said Jim Higginbotham Chairman and Head of Research at The Media Audit. Many don’t think it is feasible and indeed until passive electronic they would have been right. However passive electronic measurement a la the Smart Cell Phone changed all that. It puts less onus on the research respondent. Previously the respondent would have had to do all the work. Now all they have to do is to carry the cell phone a device that they already carry with them. The Smart Cell Phone is the key to the Holy Grail of single source multi-media measurement.”

“The need to move away from silo media measurement could have been predicted a few years ago” said Jordan “we saw the largest radio operators become the largest outdoor operators. Accordingly we expected these companies were going to want to sell the synergistic strengths of these media investments. As we looked for an electronic measurement system we looked for a system that would meet these multi-media measurement needs including radio and outdoor. The Smart Cell Phone is unique as it is the only media measurement system with a GPS function that will tie outdoor with radio. This is another reason why we say Smart Cell Phone is the simple, common sense solution for media measurement for today and tomorrow.”

“Our research shows the great synergy between radio and outdoor” continued Jordan. “Nearly half of all heavy radio listeners are heavily exposed to outdoor. This is the highest correlation of all media. It is about double newspaper and TV. Radio and outdoor provide a strong multi-media combination of sight and sound and provides two great media to sell in combination. The Smart Cell Phone media measurement solution is designed to provide radio and outdoor their synergistic sales strengths.”