How media agencies get their say on industry currencies
John Grono, the Media Federation of Australia’s research consultant, joined the debate on our item about the fight for control of newspaper readership data. His posting is a useful aide memoire of the status of the MFA – the representative body of Australian media agencies – across the various currencies, so we reproduce it here.
The majority of ‘currencies’ are either JICs (joint industry committees) or MOCs (media owner committeees). If the research is owned by a research company there tends to be a review committee. How do I know this? Because I represent the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) on all of them, as an independent research consultant.
I would like to clarify the status by industy, as follows:
- Metro TV. Owned by OzTAM (the commercial FTAs). Run by AGBNMR. MFA has member status on the technical committee and non-voting observer status on the OzTAM Board.
- Regional TV. Owned by RegTAM (the commercial FTAs). Run by AGBNMR. MFA has member status on the technical committee.
- Subscription TV. Owned by OzTAM – as above for membership status.
- Radio. Owned and operated by Nielsen Media Research. MFA has membership status on the research committee.
- Online. No currency, but largest supplier is Nielsen Online. MFA has membership status on the audience measurement committee and the research committee. These committees have been instrumental in the panel audit and are deeply involved in panel and meter improvements as well as developing a hybrid panel/server solution.
- Out-Of-Home. The MFA has membership status on the MOVE technical committee. The MFA was involved in the tender basis (specification and supplier selection) on an equal footing basis. The MFA continues to sit on the technical committee as we move towards launch in the back half of 2009 ensuring the site and visibility data is correct.
- Print/Press. The MFA is a member of the Audit Bureaux of Australia, and was an equal and instrumental partner on the committee that did the rewrite of the audit rules a few years ago. We were also instrumental in the recent ABA Online audit system.
This list does point to one ommission. Readership in Print/Press – because there is no technical committee or review process at the moment. If there was I am sure that the MFA would have a seat at the table and a strong voice. The MFA has also involved in discussions with the MPA and Newspaper Works over the past few years in order to get more frequent and granular readership and circulation data for Print/Press.
The moral of the story is that there is no absence of involvement. It is just that the MFA prefers to keep its involvement within the confines of the boards and committees that specify, design and monitor these ‘currencies’, rather than engaging in public debate through the media.
Does the MFA get an ‘equal level of control and influence’? The answer is – in some cases yes, in some cases no. But in ALL cases we have substantial influence, and generally at least proportionate or exceeding our share of the research bill. At the end of the day, someone has to own the data, and with that ownership goes the risk associated with underwriting multi-million dollar research contracts. The MFA is a not-for-profit industry body that simply is not constituted to take such massive financial risks. Therefore, we continue to, and will continue to remain active and vocal participants in the aforemetioned for fora.
The full debate on Newspaper Works plans can be seen here.
John Grono
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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