National advertisers who want to know more than just the age and sex of the people who are listening to radio will soon have access to plenty of qualitative data, thanks to a national study co-sponsored by the Radio Marketing Bureau and BBM Bureau of Measurement.
The first RTS Canada study will be in market this fall, with results available spring 2001.
The national study will build on the RTS Major Market surveys BBM has been conducting for the past few years in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. Beginning this fall, BBM will roll out the survey to the Calgary, Edmonton, London, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax markets. As well, more questions of relevance to national advertisers will be included.
The sample size is 30,000.
John Harding, president of RMB, says he expects RTS Canada will become a key planning tool for media buyers.
"Knowing whether an individual is an automotive purchaser, beer drinker or someone who buys toothpaste, and understanding the media habits and lifestyle features of that individual when it comes to planning radio buys or radio in conjunction with other media, means planning [will be] better."
David Bray, senior vice-president of RadioWorks, a division of Toronto-based agency Hennessey Bray & Reade Communications, says that radio research, as embodied in the RTS Major Market surveys, has come much farther than television research.
He says that, even with people meters, TV data is still very much based on demographics.
Unfortunately, Bray says, many buyers and sellers of radio in markets where qualitative data are available are still basing their purchase on demographic GRPs – something that’s not in the best interest of the client.
"They should be buying on the product usage data cross-referenced with the demographics. If you’re Blockbuster, don’t you want to know how many listeners of a radio station rent five-plus movies a month?
"To me, that’s far more telling than how old they are."
