Media&Marketing/Emmet Oliver: The radio industry could be facing a potential shake-up with an Irish company preparing to produce the first daily in-car listenership figures for the Republic.
Regarded by many advertisers as a key segment of the radio market, the listening habits of motorists have traditionally proved difficult to measure precisely, especially on a daily basis.
While the majority of radio listening is still done at home, car owners tend to be younger and more affluent, and gauging their listening habits is consequently crucial for stations and their advertising clients.
The congestion in Dublin also means this group are listening to more radio than ever before. More precise data on car listening will probably be positive for some stations, but not necessarily for everyone.
Getting the information has traditionally proved difficult, although in the US it is often gathered and the technology was developed there.
An Irish company called Mobiltrack has since January been using seven listening units placed in various Dublin locations to measure this vital group.
These devices have been able to measure the listening habits of about 5,000 cars each day. The company is keen to emphasise the new data are designed to complement the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR), not replace it.
The system works relatively simply: the information is passed from the listening units via wireless telephony to a central server. Detailed reports are generated from this server and these are passed to radio stations under a monthly subscription model.
With a sample size of 5,000 cars, the research could become a powerful tool for commercial stations.
Mr Lloyd Barber, head of sales for Mobiltrack, said the research would "empower the radio industry to proactively secure a larger portion of the overall advertising spend".
He said stations could assess whether certain presenters or promotions were working in terms of listenership figures.
Meanwhile, the main listenership figures for the Republic, the JNLR survey, will be issued on April 27th. The interim data will provide an indication of how individual stations are doing but will not include information on specific programmes or presenters.
Loos lures advertisers
Sky One will tonight broadcast an interview with Rebecca Loos, the British woman who claims to have had a relationship with Real Madrid star David Beckham.
The interview at 10 p.m., conducted by Sky's Kay Burley, is expected to attract a huge audience in Britain. But advertising agencies expect it to do pretty well here, too.
Irish advertisers have taken space during the ad breaks, according to AFA O'Meara, although most of them were booked in for the original show which was meant to go out at that time, the police drama Cold Case.
"The last time Sky One had an exclusive interview of such mass audience appeal was last year on February 24th when they interviewed Michael Jackson. That interview attracted over 190,000 Irish viewers," notes the agency.
P&G calls for change
Last year the world's largest advertiser, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), had a very public row with RTÉ over advertising rates. Although eventually settled, the dispute suggested that relations between cost-conscious multinationals such as P&G and the TV companies might not run too smoothly in the years ahead.
Now the powerful marketing chief of the same company, Mr Jim Stengel, has suggested advertisers need to look beyond the standard 30-second TV spot if they want to reach consumers.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Mr Stengel, a vastly influential figure, said: "There must be, and is, life beyond the 30-second spot. But our systems still revolve around that."
He said in an era of remote controls and video recorders, advertisers needed to produce far more engaging and creative work and also realise that viewers were increasingly using pay TV. "We must embrace the consumer's point of view about TV and create advertising consumers choose to watch.
Emmet Oliver can be reached at eoliver@irish-times.ie
