Media Research

The Advertising Media industry relies heavily upon quality media research to assist in the functions of strategic planning and media buying. There is a wealth of information available in the Australian market that Media Agencies subscribe to. The type of information that is provided by a range of different research suppliers include such things as: advertising expenditure, television program ratings, radio ratings, print circulation, readership data, consumer behaviour, media habits and trends, etc.

Again you will find a summary of these in our guideline but to cover off the key suppliers and the service they provide, please see the following:

TV

OzTAM

OzTAM manages and markets television ratings data covering all channels for the five city metropolitan TV service and the National Subscription TV service, 365 days a year against over 100 demographic groups. OzTAM television ratings information is the currency by which television is bought, sold and evaluated. It is used by organisations such as television networks, advertisers, advertising agencies, media buyers and program suppliers. They use the data to assist them in assessing program and network performance and to understand viewer behaviour.

The most common application of this data by Advertising Media Agencies is to determine the performance of each programme against a target audience to help determine its value in being selected for a specific brands needs.

OzTAM provides the following services:

OzTAM Metropolitan Television service that comprises television ratings data drawn from 3,035 homes (Sydney 765, Melbourne 705, Brisbane 615, Adelaide 475 and Perth 475)
OzTAM National Subscription Television service which comprises television ratings data from over 1,200 Subscription TV homes nationally – that include all Subscription TV households from the Metropolitan TV service and all Subscription TV households from the Regional TV service, RegTAM.

Data provided by the services - Minute-by-Minute and Quarter Hour data – for every Free-to-Air and Subscription TV channel in every metropolitan market and nationally for Subscription TV for over 100 demographic groups.

OzTAM television ratings information is the currency by which television is bought, sold and evaluated. It is used by organisations such as television networks, advertisers, advertising agencies, media buyers, program suppliers, government and quasi-governmental organisations. They use the data to assist them in assessing program and network performance and to understand viewer behaviour.

OzTAM website provides comprehensive information of the TV Ratings process. Students are offered an ‘Academic Pack’ containing ratings data for various demographic groups upon request. Interested students can email us to: info@oztam.com.au

PRINT

Roy Morgan Research

Roy Morgan Research provides the readership currency for newspaper and magazines in Australia. The data is used by publishers, advertisers, media planners and buyers to buy, sell and evaluate print media.

The readership data shows how many people on average read a particular newspaper or magazine and profiles them in terms of their demographics, attitudes, activities and product consumption. Roy Morgan Research also provides a tool called MediaPLANNER to evaluate the combined reach and frequency for a campaign.

The Readership survey is part of Roy Morgan Single Source which surveys over 55,000 people aged 14 years and over across Australia. The survey is conducted face-to-face on 48 weekends throughout the year.

Apart from the readership data, media planners and buyers use the Single Source data extensively in strategic planning to understand the target audience in terms of demographics, attitudes, activities, product and media consumption.

PRESENTATIONS AND DATA BASES

Roy Morgan Research uses a composite measurement approach to establish readership. This means different methods are used to measure different types of publications. This is unusual as most readership surveys around the world use only one method for all types of publication - with the widely acknowledged and unfortunate by-product of inflation of magazine readership, especially for monthly or less frequent magazines.

SINGLE SOURCE DATA IN STRATEGY AND MEDIA PLANS

The Roy Morgan Single Source data is used extensively by media planners and buyers, beyond the readership data. The data is used in strategic planning to understand the target audience in terms of their demographics, attitudes, activities, and product and media consumption across print, TV, radio, cinema and internet.

ACCESS LIVE DATA AND SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO USE ASTEROID

All this data comes together through Roy Morgan Research’s award winning software, ASTEROID.
To see how easy ASTEROID is to use, click through to the Roy Morgan Research website.

Here you will find a quick demonstration of the software and you can also download a specially created database for students visiting the MFA website. This is a cut-down version of the full database (in this instance, restricted to NSW) and includes a range of demographic, media, activity, attitudinal and product data. Students are welcome to use this special database for their projects and assignments

Audit Bureau of Circulations

The ABC is a not-for-profit association that provides audited proof of the average net paid sales per issue for consumer media including: Metropolitan and National Newspapers, Regional Daily Newspapers, Country Press, Ethnic Newspapers and Magazines.

The ABC audit proves the paid circulation for a publication. Every copy of every issue is verified to produce the Average Net Paid Sales per issue of a publication. Independent auditors are nominated to undertake the audit for the publisher and during the audit process they will sight and verify all records pertaining to each issue that falls within the audit period. These records include all sales outlets such as newsagents and supermarkets, subscriptions, bulk sales, returns and unsolds and any other relevant documentation. An ABC audit does not include free copies.

There are four audit periods per year, January to March, April to June and July to September and October to December therefore the information reported is an average of the issues within that period. Metro and National Newspapers must audit every quarter as well as Regional Daily Newspapers and Weekly Magazines with circulation over 25,000. All other members report half-year periods – January to June and July to December.

Media planners and buyers use ABC data to understand the average number of copies sold per issue of a publication and to calculate cost per thousand values.

Circulations Audit Board

The CAB, a not-for-profit association that provides audited proof of the average distribution per issue of a publication, reporting the distribution method (ie mailed, bulk, sold, individually delivered) and other breakdowns for business & professional publications, specialty publications, community newspapers and indigenous & community language newspapers. In recent years the CAB has expanded to offer verification services for exhibition organisers, web and email publishers and unaddressed distribution providers.

The CAB audit reports the distribution for a publication. Every copy of every issue is verified to produce the Average Net Distribution per issue of a publication with special emphasis on how the distribution was undertaken. Independent auditors are nominated to undertake the audit for the publisher and during the audit process they will sight and verify all records pertaining to each issue that falls within the audit period. These records include all forms of distribution such as mailing proof, sales through newsagents and subscriptions, bulk distribution, requested, individually delivered and any other relevant documentation.

There are two audit periods per year, April to September and October to March and audit requirements are based on issue frequency.

Media planners and buyers use CAB data to understand the average number of copies distributed per issue of a publication, how copies reached recipients and to calculate cost per thousand values.

ABC and CAB data is reliable, independent data available to buyers to understand the sales and distribution of publications.

For more information on the ABC and CAB please visit www.auditbureau.org.au

RADIO

Nielsen Media Research

Nielsen Media Research is the official contractor for Radio audience surveys in all markets throughout Australia, providing detailed listening data to subscribers for Radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, eight times per year. Regular surveys are also conducted in major Regional markets of Newcastle, Canberra, Wollongong and the Gold Coast plus many other adhoc market surveys.

Commercial Radio Australia Limited administers the Radio Ratings contract on behalf of all commercial Radio stations and assists in the continued improvement of the research program and an ongoing audit of the survey methodology. Nielsen Media Research's system is based on diaries, which record seven day, quarter hour listening to pre-listed Commercial and ABC stations.

Primarily, Advertising Media agencies use the information provided by Nielsen Media Research to help determine the share of audience each station attracts across a broad range of demographics and the particular performance of each station at different times of the day. This information helps a planner to decide which stations to choose in order to reach the right people and it also assists in deciding what time of the day offers the greatest opportunity in reaching the target market.
For more information and the most recent Radio Ratings survey results, please visit www.nielsenmedia.com.au and click through Media Update to Radio Ratings - Metropolitan Markets.

ONLINE

Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behavior, and includes products previously marketed under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com.

NetView

NetView is the industry benchmark for Internet Audience Measurement and tracks usage across Web sites and digital applications to deliver high-quality audience data and analytics. Through metered measurement of representative panels of Internet users, NetView reports industry-standard metrics—including unique audience, page views and time spent—as well as loyalty indicators, demographic information and other key insights into online activity and consumer behavior.

AdRelevance

AdRelevance provides accurate Intelligence about Online Advertising Activity across Major Industries, Channels and Formats. AdRelevance is the only online advertising measurement system that mimics actual Internet population usage by automatically adjusting itself to traffic patterns. An intuitive, award-winning interface enables easy access and customization of AdRelevance data. Whether you buy, sell, create or analyze online advertising, AdRelevance provides actionable, timely information to build effective and efficient online marketing strategies and ad campaigns.

Market Intelligence

Market Intelligence is a browser-based audience measurement tool that provides independent tracking and analysis of your Web site users, site performance and other critical measurement data. Marketing Intelligence provides insights into the competitive online landscape through unique independent, near real time performance ranking of audited websites. Market Intelligence uses business effectiveness metrics including daily, weekly and monthly unique browsers, page impressions, frequency and session duration to build comprehensive, census based pictures of actual domestic and total traffic to audited websites.

BuzzMetrics

Every day, millions of consumers converse in online communities, discussion boards, blogs and social networks. They turn to the Internet to share opinions, advice, grievances and recommendations. Nielsen Online’s BuzzMetrics services deliver trusted brand metrics, meaningful consumer insights and real-time market intelligence to help clients apply the power of consumer-generated media (CGM) to their businesses. BuzzMetrics services give you the tools to understand:

How consumers feel about your brand, product or service—in their words
How online conversations can power or deflate your brand
Specific issues that are being discussed around your company, brand or organization
Events, trends and issues that may be influencing industry and brand buzz
How your online and offline marketing campaigns resonate with consumers
How to leverage word-of-mouth to drive brand credibility, and ultimately—sales
Using innovative technology and a rigorous methodology, BuzzMetrics services and solutions uncover and integrate

data-driven insights culled from nearly 100 million blogs, social networks, groups, boards and other CGM platforms.

Online Ad Effectiveness Testing

Online Ad Effectiveness Testing can measure your campaign’s success via the use of control and exposed groups across a range of brand metrics; our unique methodology allows for the isolation of online campaign effectiveness or the evaluation of a holistic cross-media campaign. This service provides content publishers, advertisers and agencies with an effectiveness measurement solution that demonstrates the success of an online ad campaign across proven campaign success metrics like:

Brand familiarity
Message equity
Brand consideration
Purchase propensity
Creative execution effectiveness
Placement impact
Frequency of exposure.

COMPETITIVE EXPENDITURE

AdEx

Nielsen monitors advertising activity in Australia, providing the industry currency for advertising expenditure estimates and volume measurement across all mainstream media, covering Free to Air Television, Newspapers, consumer Magazines, Radio, Cinema, Outdoor, Direct Mail, Online Display and Business to Business publications.

Nielsen advertiser product groups and category classifications have been widely adopted as industry standards by the key advertising bodies and introduced into internal management systems by many of the leading marketing organisations in the country.

Our AdEx expenditure figures apply estimated volume discounts for each advertiser and through market intelligence, discounts for the changing media environment throughout the year.

AdEx data allows you to:

Demonstrate geographic and seasonal variation in estimated expenditure and schedule activity
Develop a complete picture of what market leaders are doing in a category and identify niche opportunities
Understand how competitors view their target audience, profile their brand and how they seek to position themselves in the market
Estimate the advertising cost required to take a new product to market, through illustrating the budget required to launch and sustain a brand
Track new product launches
Analyse the effectiveness of a specific strategy
Establish the best schedule timing to maximise the efficiency of the media spend
Identify key markets for competitors

Creative tracking ~ TVPix, PrintPix and MailPix

Pix services are web based surveillance tools that provide creative executions linked to media activity data. This unique service covers all major Metropolitan Television, Metropolitan and major Regional Newspapers, leading consumer Magazines and Direct Mail.

Please click here to download Nielsen Adex Data 2008.

To learn more about Nielsen Media and Consumer services visit: www.au.nielsen.com

CONSUMER AND MEDIA INSIGHTS

Nielsen Panorama

Panorama helps clients to better understand consumer usage of products and services by providing insights they can act on and the market understanding for profitable customer growth. As a syndicated multi-media marketing database, Panorama integrates consumer demographics, product usage and media consumption for value-added marketing and media solutions.

It enables consumer profiling (a stronger comprehension of consumers or potential consumers needs) to reveal opportunities for new business in the market place. It also enables targeting of advertising campaigns with greater accuracy through planning and evaluating integrated media campaigns using the strengths of the media industry's electronic media currencies, being:

OzTAM Metropolitan TV Ratings data
AGB Nielsen Media Research Regional TV Ratings data
Radio Ratings data

Nielsen Advertising Agencies using Panorama enables detailed analyses of segments by demographics, media consumption and product usage so that media strategists know their planned ad campaigns will reach the markets they are targeting. To assist Agencies gain a competitive edge, Panorama can deliver insights into industry segments outside of the agency’s current client portfolio. Panorama packages can be tailored to every agency’s particular needs, including annual category subscriptions, special Agency Pitch Packages and ad-hoc tables or reports.

Please click here to download Nielsen Panorama Consumer Media Insights to 2008