MACH3 takes shape
WEMF’s Media Analysis Switzerland (MACH), which reports print reach figures, is being revamped. Many details of the new generation of studies have already been finalized; these will not only track the use of print titles but also provide baseline data for combined print-online reach of media brands—the latter in collaboration with Net-Metrix-Profile.
For today's study, Wemf commissions 23,500 telephone interviews per year, each lasting around 35 minutes. These are conducted throughout the year (CATI method). The questions ask when the individual titles were last read (for daily newspapers, for example, "read yesterday"). Wemf is retaining this basic design for MACH3 as well, so it remains true to the LpA approach. "The LpA value is still absolutely state of the art in international terms," says Wemf research director Harald Amschler.
Nevertheless, MACH3 will differ from the current study in important respects. This already starts with the contact with the 23,500 interview partners, for which a new multi-stage procedure ("two-part CATI with RDD") is used. Instead of randomly drawing telephone numbers from directories with the aid of a computer, as is the case today, MACH3 uses a random number generator (RDD) to compile the numbers (i.e. also with mobile prefixes 079, 078, 076...) and dial them. If the number is in operation, the corresponding person can be invited to participate in the study. In this way, it is also possible to contact people who can only be reached by mobile phone or who do not have an entry in the phone book.
If the person reached is ready for a MACH3 interview, he or she is asked for his or her basic data (age, gender, place of residence...) and told that in the following days he or she will receive pointing material by mail. The titles to be interviewed are shown with their logo. At the same time, an appointment is made for a telephone main interview, for which the interviewee must use the pointing material to avoid title confusion (e.g. with Le Matin Bleu, Le Matin Orange, Le Matin Dimanche).
In MACH3, however, Wemf no longer wants to survey only the use of print titles, but also that of the associated websites. A pilot project to this end is already underway (see box). However, this poses a problem: the query lists could become too long; in Zurich, for example, around 120 titles already have to be queried. Wemf therefore plans to rotate the order of titles on the list for each MACH3 interview and then shorten it by a third. "We will then add the titles that are omitted in one interview based on the other interviews using mathematical analogy (injection method)," says Amschler.
Wemf now has to present all the details to its board of directors by the end of 2009. Tests are scheduled for next year, and a MACH3-Basic pilot study is also planned in economic areas 43 and 12 (Vaud and Zurich) by the end of 2010, in parallel with the current survey method. Among other things, it should show how much the coverage results deviate from those of MACH2. The first full survey will begin in 2011 and be published in 2012. One thing is already clear, however: although MACH3 retains the LpA value, the results will not be comparable with those of MACH2. Amschler: "Because of the methodological changes, there will be a break in the time series." It is also clear that MACH3 will be considerably more expensive.
Markus Knöpfli
Pilot project for a large intermediate study
Do you read the NZZ only on paper or only online? Do you alternate? Or do you use both the online and print editions on some days? Wemf and Internet research Net-Metrix want to answer this question. They have therefore launched the pilot project "Total Audience" with the aim of recording the total net reach of a print title and its website (=intermedia combination print + website), as well as the contact total (gross reach) and the number of exclusive users (online and print). The prerequisite is that a title is registered with MACH Basic and the associated website with Net-Metrix-Profile. Additional surveys are required for the pilot. For example, Wemf asks NZZ readers whether they also use NZZ online, Net-Metrix does it the other way around with NZZ online users. After a telephone contact, the surveys are carried out by means of an online questionnaire. The results form a kind of bridge, thanks to which (so-called hinge variables) a data fusion can then take place between the two separately running reach studies. Initial results should be available by the end of 2010. The project is not only intended as a test run for MACH3. "It also marks the first stage on the way to a possible large-scale Swiss intermedia study, which will hopefully one day include the media of all relevant media genres," says project manager Lukas C. Gürtler. mk
Two new partners
Wemf currently has the market research institutes Demoscope and Link conduct the MACH2 interviews. For MACH3, it is now bringing in two more: Gfs Zurich and Isopublic. The four companies are forming a joint venture specifically for the study. mk
