Australian industry body Commercial Radio & Audio has announced that a new hybrid audience measurement system for the GfK metropolitan radio surveys will be introduced from Survey 1 in March 2023,
The enhancement will see the radio ratings produced using audience data collected from predominantly electronic diaries and live radio streaming data obtained from station web server logs and the GfK Sensic tagging system.
The streaming data will be verified by data collected from panels of respondents wearing GfK’s MediaWatch wearable meter and will be scientifically integrated into the radio ratings dataset.
According to CRA, the Radio360 system is the most significant investment and change to the radio audience measurement system in Australia since ratings began.
Speaking at CRA’s Audio Unlimited event, chief executive officer Ford Ennals said the new approach would provide more robust and granular listening data for agencies and advertisers and enable a deeper view of the size of the streaming audience.
“We will launch the new radio measurement system from Survey 1 next year in March. This will be the first iteration of the new hybrid methodology and we will work with GfK to continue to develop and explore further enhancements.
“We also plan to provide additional information on podcast listening by including podcast consumption questions into the lifestyle questionnaire that is part of the diary. These insights will provide information such as podcasting listening frequency, time of day and other data,” he said.