Radio audience meters do not restrict content providers, says metric chief

Radio audiences measured by Portable People Meters (PPM) do not prevent 'risk-taking' by content providers, the firm behind the metrics system has said.

The meters, which track radio audience figures and habits on a minute-by-minute basis, are used by US radio stations to research audience habits and build advertising models.

The metrics system was criticised at an industry conference today by outgoing head of BBC audio and radio Jenny Abramsky, who said the minute-by-minute audience analysis would prevent broadcasters from taking risks with their content.

Abramsky's comments at the MediaGuardian Radio Reborn conference coincided with an announcement by RAJAR that the industry body is to 'draw a line' under its investment in PPMs.

The industry body will investigate a new form of online survey for audience measurement, as part of a three-year strategy for audience research.

In a press release, RAJAR said it would terminate the project because of problems with handling the amount of data produced and concerns over audience response times.

"Over the past year the pilot has delivered a wealth of data but it has continued to highlight serious concerns with respondent compliance, particularly at breakfast time," said Sally de la Bedoyere, RAJAR’s managing director.

"In addition, the pilot has thrown up a range of concerns involving sample sizes, panel composition and the practicalities of operating a panel for the entire UK radio market."

However, Philippe Generali, CEO of RCS Worldwide, which analyses the data produced by the PPMs, said RAJAR's decision to end their trial of the technology was a sign of its success and not its failure.

"You can experiment, you can try things and you can see whether the audience likes it or not. It's a way not to stay safe," Generali told Journalism.co.uk.

"It's a discipline that the radio industry has to adopt because the advertisers like that model. They like to think of ratings as something that are unbiased, electronically measured.

"They want to know how many pairs of ears the radio really reaches. Radio has to be accountable and the way to be accountable is to have reliable ratings."

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