New survey method

Press, 30 November 1989, Page 7

New survey method

By

Patrick Mclennan

AGB-McNair, New Zealand’s largest research organisation, will soon introduce “Peoplemeters” into New Zealand homes for a more sophisticated means of finding out television ratings. The company’s chief executive, Mr Richard Todd, said television viewing had ‘become more complex since the diary-based audience measurement service was first used. The diary system relied on people keeping accurate records of what they watched, but more channels, remote control television tuners and VCRs made diaries less reliable, he said. The initial sample of “Peoplemeters” will comprise 400 households spread throughout the country. Each house will receive a small remote-control device about the size of a calculator. The handset will have numbered buttons, one for each resident, which are pressed when they start viewing television, and again when they

stop. Mr Todd said the handset was unique because it contained a facility whereby viewers could exprress their appreciation of specific programmes. The meter also had a small monitor that sat on top of the television set. It provided a video display of the information the householders are feeding intothe handset. A collector box placed elsewhere in the house records the information and transmits it by telephone to AGBMcNair’s central computer. Mr Todd said AGB was the first company to commercially develop the “Peoplemeter” worldwide and had been using the technology for more than a decade in Europe and Asia. The meters would provide more accurate audience information because of larger sample sizes, the information being available far quicker and with more viewer characteristics than were previously available, he said.