TAM's research papers draws international attention

Options for marketers are getting complex by the day with some 250 channels beaming more than 40,000 programmes every week. To make matters worse, during the pre-launch phase of most new programmes, both broadcasters and advertisers bet big-time on the new shows and often, fail to get adequate returns.

Hence, the mystery question keeps coming back. What motivates a television viewing home to switch to a completely new programme genre launched in a competitive channel from viewing an on-going programme on its favourite channel on a given weekday primetime?

Yes, the TAM Peoplemeter data does give a broadcaster the best estimate of audience size and profile. However, when it comes to analyzing patterns of channel loyalty, especially when it comes to different programme genres, the burning question of why a certain profile of households chose to migrate to the new programme still remains unanswered.

TAM Media Research has prepared research papers meant to bring in special perspectives and a better understanding of ROI (return-on-investment) in the science of advertising, broadcasting and planning for the global media fraternity.

Last month, one of the research work was presented at the ESOMAR 2005 conference in Tokyo. The paper focused on unconventional ways to understand in-home television viewing behaviour. TAM had earlier made presentations at ESOMAR Shanghai and WAM Geneva in 2004.

What's more, this year, three different research papers prepared by TAM India have been nominated for WAM (World Audience Measurement Conference organised jointly by ESOMAR & ARF).

This first paper, conceptually an extension of the ESOMAR paper, tries to throw light on one of the most crucial aspects for broadcasters – measuring the reasons for a shifting loyalty base to understand the extent of programme/channel switching during normal viewing.

The paper tracks and establishes reasons for each of the possible causes such as programme scheduling, family dynamics (including control of remote), promotion and publicity etc. It also tries to figure out the influencers/decision makers in programme selection during prime time in the family.

The second WAM paper brings another value add for the broadcasters. It deals with the subject of efficient planning of multi-media promotions to garner the best possible viewership. This paper, TAM believes, will go a long way in helping the broadcaster work out its returns on each of the marketing communications investments across media platforms.

In the third paper, TAM will present a paper delving into measuring the effectiveness of branded entertainment and sponsorship.

LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, says, “We have observed the Indian media industry for several years now, and we foresee a huge need for highly advanced and customised solutions for each of the member groups – advertisers, broadcasters and planners.”

“We will continue to leverage our international parentage and experience, share our ability to understand the needs of the local markets and bring in state-of-the-art products and services with out-of-the-box media solutions. Through 2004, our specialist divisions – TAM S-Group and Measurement Science - have already provided substantial value adds and perspectives to many of our client organisations. The research papers will introduce a new level of value addition for the Indian media industry and understanding audience ROI,” adds Krishnan.

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