Q&A with CRA’s Joan Warner: Why the radio ratings are on hold and what will change while they’re gone
COVID-19 has not only hit radio’s revenues, it’s also taken its toll on the industry’s ability to report who is listening to what, and when.
Commercial Radio Australia’s Joan Warner talks to Mumbrella’s Vivienne Kelly about why the industry body had to pause its ratings reporting, what things might look like on the other side, and what counts as ‘success’ in a market with declining revenues, less data and more pressures than any time in recent memory.
INTERVIEW:
Joan Warner, CEO, Commercial Radio Australia (JW)
Vivienne Kelly, editor, Mumbrella (VK)
VK: Did putting the radio ratings on pause feel like an inevitable decision, or were you trying to find alternatives?
JW: Well, I think it was inevitable, given that it felt like it was the time to do it, because we finished survey two, so all that fieldwork is done, and survey one in the regions is almost done, and we’re very pleased that that’s been able to go ahead. But now, just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been saying “What does this mean for the field team, for the field workers? And what does it mean for people who have a fieldworker come and knock on the door?”
