How do you measure success?

In a world of zipping, zapping, surfing and scanning, tracking audiences is becoming increasingly complex. As we wade through unparalleled media fragmentation, the question is "how should we measure success?"

As audiences are being carved up in more ways than Thanksgiving dinner, analysis becomes ever more important. The era of delivering broad bulk audience is on the way out. We now begin to look at consumers and measure their activity from a variety of different perspectives.

There is a crying need for cross media measurement. Sadly, the STAR project of a few years back did not come to fruition. Now, we are left with a series of measurement services featuring different areas of concentration. NADBank, PMB, BBM, and Neilsen, among others, all continue to make valuable contributions. Still, we must take the next step. Consider how much closer we have come to the home media centre. Radio and television stations actively promote their Internet sites which include streaming and clips. Print publications quickly post their pieces on the net. How do you separate the consumer's Web surfing activity from their radio tuning and print consumption?

There are a number of very positive developments on the near horizon. The area of niche marketing requires niche measurement. That is exactly what BBM is delivering in spades. First came the single source qualitative data that came with the diary demographic information. Now comes the full-blown RTS (Return To Sample) with its 40,000 sample size. This national survey with specific major market data will prove to be a planning tool second to none. There may be some resistance from the "GRPs are good enough for me" crowd, but advertisers who are exposed to the possibilities are left with their eyes wide open.

So what's next? Look for BBM to deliver critically important data, cross-referencing net usage and radio tuning. Also on the BBM agenda is the long awaited 4p (or 3p, 2p, I've lost count) meter. Arbitron has the prototype (to which BBM has Canadian rights) in the market being tested. Because of the method of sound encoding which it uses, this personal passive device could prove to be perfect for a number of different purposes. It will be a very cost effective measurement tool for medium and small television markets. For radio, it will suffice not only for current AM and FM broadcasts but DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) and Internet streaming. On the major market TV front, BBM is developing its "picture matching" meters which hold immense promise.

Experienced broadcaster Jim McLeod has been brought in to take the helm at BBM. His progressive plans for addressing cross media measurement and updating BBM's overall image are extremely exciting.

BBM's accountability and openness have always been second to none. It is important that advertisers, broadcasters and agencies alike continue to throw their support behind this non-profit co-operative.

After all, they are us. Failing to help them progress would be shooting ourselves in our collective foot.

On the technology front, devices such as the new Wavefinder from Psion are going to literally turn consumers on their ears. This space age device connects to your computer delivering pristine (DAB) digital audio in addition to broadcast data while allowing you to surf a station's Web site. Now that's media convergence. And this is only the beginning. A new cost effective, compact chip from Texas Instruments will allow DAB to reach new levels of portability and affordability.

If somehow representatives from the various media can evolve from a competitive to a cooperative mindset, the results in terms of measurement of consumer activity could be stunning. After all, this is the era of consolidation. Moreover, a unified approach could result in substantial cost benefits. But, for now, we will have to be content with the greatly improved research available to us.

Make no mistake. As media consumption becomes more fragmented, survival in terms of ad revenue will depend heavily on qualitative/product usage research. Advertisers measure success in terms of sales.

They need to know how many customers for their category of product you can deliver. Media buyers must be held accountable for more than smugly delivering a low cost per point on a broad demo.

As consumers' media consumption becomes more fragmented and frenetic, success for broadcasters may well be measured in terms of how quickly they can track and analyze those audiences.