The CRE's Media Consumption & Engagement Committee (MC&E), which produced the CRE's landmark Video Consumer Mapping (VCM) study, commissioned BIA/Kelsey to lead a comprehensive effort – called "UX," for user experience -- to review research that is currently available about the user experience on multiple video platforms.

The study explored research related to live viewing, screen size impact, HD TV, 3-D TV, DVRs, VOD, streaming, mobile, game consoles, tablet PCs, and others.

While prior research has explored users' behavior, this new study's objective was to help researchers gain greater insight into the user experience – such as the user's affects, motivations, values, attention-level and other factors.

Top-line findings of the completed research review were initially shared at the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) Audience Measurement 6.0 in June 2011. The CRE also hosted a June 16 webinar -- to discuss the findings more in-depth -- drawing more than 100 Nielsen clients and featuring guest questioner, MediaPost Editor-in-Chief Joe Mandese. Additionally, the CRE has published to its website for public access an archive that will exceed 150 documents, all part of the research review process.

The findings of the research-review portion of the UX study set the foundation for what promises to be an ambitious undertaking by the CRE to help develop a fresh, comprehensive understanding of the video-user experience. Over the coming months, CRE members will be studying the research generated under the research review phase with an eye toward launching a second phase to capitalize on the learnings from the research-review and to explore the user experience via original research.

The CRE's MC&E; Committee, now chaired by Michael Orgera, Senior Vice President, Media Research and Insight at Warner Brothers, invites all interested Nielsen clients to work with us as we approach the second phase of this project; please feel free to contact us via info@researchexcellence.com.

Learn more: http://www.researchexcellence.com/committees/database.php

The CRE's Universe Estimates Committee ("UE"), chaired by Nancy Gallagher, Senior Vice President of News, Sports and Affiliate Research at NBC Universal, analyzed the validity of media-related universe estimates derived from the Nielsen local-market sample in Dallas and Fort Worth. This is an LPM market with significant ethnic population, a mix of urban and rural counties, and a high proportion of over-the-air TV households offering additional insight to the impact of digital convergence.

Research Triangle Incorporated (RTI) was selected to conduct exhaustive field work, using methodology designed to mirror Nielsen's LPM sample recruitment process. Out of 1,000 cases, 642 interviews were completed, 79 of which were conducted in Spanish. The response rate was 69.7% when ineligibles are removed.

Among other findings, data analysis revealed significant differences in ownership of HD sets and DVD players. The most surprising finding was a higher than expected percentage of non-TV households. The experience with these 18 homes helped UE Committee members realize not only the importance of accurate data relating to the ownership and penetration of the rapidly expanding pool of video-consumption devices, but also the need to understand the "where, when and how" of all video consumption. This and other observations were discussed during a July 21 webinar.

The CRE's Digital Committee, chaired by Dan Murphy, Senior Vice President, Interactive Research & Analytics at Univision Interactive Media, will examine how digital publishers capture and maintain user data. The committee also will seek to understand the usefulness of these data in supplementing research-panel data to augment audience measurement.

At issue is the integration of the demographic and cross-site insights offered by panel-based measurement with the complete audience coverage of server-based measurement.

The CRE plans to assess current data-collection practices as well as best practices to strengthen "hybrid" (panel-based/server-based) digital audience measurement.

CRE looks forward to announcing results of this study later this year.

With the rapidly growing interest in social media, the CRE's newest committee, chaired by Beth Rockwood, Senior Vice President, Market Resources at Discovery Communications, will explore this phenomenon, and its impact on traditional media. Included will be the role in the marketing and communications mix, the relationship between social media and video, the identifiable social-media audience segments, social media's impact on the viewing experience, how new social media audience metrics may relate to existing metrics, and the network-level effects of social media, among other areas.

The committee already has had several informational sessions to help provide context – with guest presenters from Keller Fay Group, Nielsen, and NM Incite discussing areas such as demographics and social media integration into the marketing mix.

The CRE will keep Nielsen clients informed of developments from the Social Media Committee as it explores this rapidly evolving segment.

The CRE's recently formed Education Committee has initiated what is believed to be the first industry-wide internship program solely dedicated to the training of the next generation of audience research professionals. The CRE has reached out to member companies with a call-to-action, requesting their assistance in addressing this pressing need. Anyone interested in collaborating with the CRE in establishing a research internship program at their company is encouraged to visit the internship page at the CRE site.

• CRE Education Committee chairman Alex Corteselli, Vice President of Cox Reps, recently contributed a column to TVNewsCheck.com about his committee's efforts; you can find it here: http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2011/03/25/50104/help-wanted-nextgen-tv-researchers

Members recently accepted to seats on the CRE are:

• Dr. Janet Gallent, Vice President of Consumer Insights and Innovation Research within NBC Universal's Strategic Research Group. Dr. Gallent is new to the CRE.


• Dr. Sharon Warden, Vice President, Research and Information, National Association of Broadcasters. Dr. Warden also is new to CRE.


• Michael Nathanson, Managing Director and head of the US Media and Internet equity research team at global investment bank Nomura Securities. Mr. Nathanson was a previous CRE member while with another company and was re-admitted.

The CRE is currently seeking membership applications from advertisers and marketers; if you are interested, please contact us at info@researchexcellence.com.

The Research Mini-Summit, co-sponsored on October 25, 2010 by the Council for Research Excellence and the Media Rating Council in New York, brought together some 200 attendees in person and via dial-in to review CRE's landmark 2009 study into response bias. The study was overseen by the CRE's Non-Response Bias (NRB) Committee -- now known as the Sample Quality (SQ) Committee -- which is chaired by Ceril Shagrin, Executive Vice President, Audience Measurement Innovation and Analytics, Univision.

The study, "Measuring the Unmeasured Viewer," was the most comprehensive of its kind, setting out to determine the impact of non-response on ratings.

Response rates of the study were strong. Of metered households, 95 percent of those cooperating with Nielsen-meter samples responded, while 63 percent of households not cooperating with Nielsen-meter samples responded. Similarly, 83 percent of diary
households cooperating with Nielsen samples responded to our study, while 76 percent of mailable non-cooperators responded.

The study revealed more about unmeasured viewers than any prior effort. Among the findings was that non-cooperators are more likely to have cable, DVRs, big-screen TVs, and more sets generally – suggesting on one level that some owners of higher-end media equipment may be reluctant to have Nielsen install meters. Non-cooperators also were found to have more unplanned TV viewing and to watch TV more frequently in groups.

Overall, few differences were found between Cooperators/Intabs and Refusers/NonIntabs on TV viewing measures. Some differences were found in a few cases by daypart, where differences were fewer for metered individuals and homes than for diary individuals and homes. The study was able to determine differentiating factors including demographics, equipment ownership, and channels viewed. It also provided insights to when weighting does and does not eliminate response differences.

Slides from the event as well as an audio replay are available on the CRE site, here: http://www.researchexcellence.com/committees/nonresponse_committee.php

We're pleased to provide this download of CRE's 2010 Annual Report

• CRE Facilitator Richard Zackon offered a mid-project update on the CRE's "UX," for "user experience", study -- from CRE's Media Consumption & Engagement Committee (MC&E) -- at MediaPost's inaugural Re:Vision conference, on April 12 in New York. Video of his 15-minute presentation can be found here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13951746


• Zackon and BIA/Kelsey's Rick Ducey presented final results and conclusions of the MC&E Committee's UX research-review study at the Advertising Research Foundation's (ARF) Audience Measurement 6.0 on June 14, 2011: http://www.thearf.org/assets/future-events


• Zackon and Ducey – joined by guest questioner, MediaPost Editor-in-Chief Joe Mandese, hosted a webinar, attracting more than 100 listeners and participants, on June 16 to discuss the UX research-review findings more in-depth.


• Universe Estimates ("UE") Committee chair Nancy Gallagher hosted a July 21 webinar for Nielsen clients on the UE Committee's recent findings.

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