The losers allow themselves doubts
Radio Research Not everyone trusts the new data from Radiocontrol. And they certainly don't trust its ties to the SRG.
Radio research Not everyone trusts the new data from Radiocontrol. When the National Council stipulated in the new RTVA that radio and TV research should be separated from the SRG and incorporated into a foundation, publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument still thought that this should not be worded so restrictively. In the meantime, however, he has changed his mind. He wrote this in a letter to Publica Data (PDAG) on May 11 - with a direct copy to SRG Director General Armin Walpen and DRS Director Walter Rüegg. The reason for Lebrument's change of heart: PDAG's communication. On May 12, PDAG wanted to release the audited Radiocontrol data from the first quarter of 2004, but without informing the radios Grischa, Jura Bernois (RJB) and Fréquence Jura (RFJ) in advance, which had up to 30 percent less coverage due to the increased RC sample. Such treatment of the private radio stations is only possible because the Research Service (FD) belongs to SRG, Lebrument speculated in the letter, which led to Walpen immediately preventing the release of the RC data and only releasing all data except that of the three most affected stations days later. A piquant detail: With his stop, Walpen disregarded a statute that has guaranteed the FD the greatest possible independence from the SRG since 1998. Among other things, it states: "The FD or PDAG has the approval authority for the basic service." And: The FD decides "from a scientific point of view, whether data is released as publishable or not."
Lebrument not only doubts the independence of the FD, he also questions the radio research. If the 2004 data that has now been checked is indeed correct, then the FD has consistently reported too high figures for its radio over the years, he argues. "Overall, the RC system is a flop. Credibility is lost if the FD constantly comes up with different figures," he said on request. Pierre Steulet, owner of RJB and RFB, expressed a similar view.
However, this opinion is not shared everywhere. "Radiocontrol is one hundred percent trustworthy, compared to the earlier SRG media study anyway," says Michi Frank, Head of Advertising Sales at IP Multimedia. And Bruno Oetterli from radio marketer Radiotele recalls that the RC system was tested with Telecontrol before it was introduced, and the results of both systems "matched surprisingly well".
Agencies and advertising clients are also calm. "RC is still a relatively new method, nobody expects everything to be OK straight away," says Hanna H. Kaminski, Co-Managing Director at Dreimediateam, reassuringly. "But of course we expect the FD to explain the sudden loss of reach of the three radios," she says. However, claims for reimbursement against Grischa are not an issue. Thorsten Stutzmann, responsible for media planning at Charles Vögele Mode, agrees; he considers the RC data to be "tough", but also finds the matter "extremely irritating".
"Our trust is unbroken," says Jürg Siegrist, Director of the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA). What happened to Grischa, RJB and RFJ requires an explanation, but not fundamental skepticism. And he recalls: "It was the SWA that vehemently pushed for an enlarged sample." However, according to Siegrist, the events surrounding the RC data last week showed one thing, namely "that the RTVG demand for an outsourcing of the FD from the SRG is correct".
"Improvement, not error "Matthias Steinmann, CEO of the Telecontrol Group, rejects the doubts about the Radiocontrol system: "It wasn't the clocks that measured incorrectly, but the IHA GfK institute made a mistake when processing the data: it simply forgot to weight the new disproportionate sample when it was increased." The weighting error could also have happened in an interview study. However, as head of the FD at the time, he took political responsibility.
Steinmann does not know the reasons for the sharp drop in reach of three radios identified by the new weighting method. However, he believes that neither the figures for 2001 to 2003 nor the verified data for 2004 are incorrect. "This is not a mistake, but an improvement", he says. The 2004 data is more accurate due to the refined weighting. However, he emphasizes: "The data collection was always carried out according to the state of the art at the time, now there is a new state of the art. In addition, to my knowledge, the collection and weighting have always been discussed by the Scientific Control Commission - an independent expert committee - and found to be correct," he says. (mk)
Armin Walpen: Statute violated.
Markus Knöpfli
Lebrument not only doubts the independence of the FD, he also questions the radio research. If the 2004 data that has now been checked is indeed correct, then the FD has consistently reported too high figures for its radio over the years, he argues. "Overall, the RC system is a flop. Credibility is lost if the FD constantly comes up with different figures," he said on request. Pierre Steulet, owner of RJB and RFB, expressed a similar view.
However, this opinion is not shared everywhere. "Radiocontrol is one hundred percent trustworthy, compared to the earlier SRG media study anyway," says Michi Frank, Head of Advertising Sales at IP Multimedia. And Bruno Oetterli from radio marketer Radiotele recalls that the RC system was tested with Telecontrol before it was introduced, and the results of both systems "matched surprisingly well".
Agencies and advertising clients are also calm. "RC is still a relatively new method, nobody expects everything to be OK straight away," says Hanna H. Kaminski, Co-Managing Director at Dreimediateam, reassuringly. "But of course we expect the FD to explain the sudden loss of reach of the three radios," she says. However, claims for reimbursement against Grischa are not an issue. Thorsten Stutzmann, responsible for media planning at Charles Vögele Mode, agrees; he considers the RC data to be "tough", but also finds the matter "extremely irritating".
"Our trust is unbroken," says Jürg Siegrist, Director of the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA). What happened to Grischa, RJB and RFJ requires an explanation, but not fundamental skepticism. And he recalls: "It was the SWA that vehemently pushed for an enlarged sample." However, according to Siegrist, the events surrounding the RC data last week showed one thing, namely "that the RTVG demand for an outsourcing of the FD from the SRG is correct".
"Improvement, not error "Matthias Steinmann, CEO of the Telecontrol Group, rejects the doubts about the Radiocontrol system: "It wasn't the clocks that measured incorrectly, but the IHA GfK institute made a mistake when processing the data: it simply forgot to weight the new disproportionate sample when it was increased." The weighting error could also have happened in an interview study. However, as head of the FD at the time, he took political responsibility.
Steinmann does not know the reasons for the sharp drop in reach of three radios identified by the new weighting method. However, he believes that neither the figures for 2001 to 2003 nor the verified data for 2004 are incorrect. "This is not a mistake, but an improvement", he says. The 2004 data is more accurate due to the refined weighting. However, he emphasizes: "The data collection was always carried out according to the state of the art at the time, now there is a new state of the art. In addition, to my knowledge, the collection and weighting have always been discussed by the Scientific Control Commission - an independent expert committee - and found to be correct," he says. (mk)
Armin Walpen: Statute violated.
Markus Knöpfli
