NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 12 – Synovate Research has launched a new tracking system for radio and television audiences in the country.
Synovate MD George Waititu said on Thursday that the Portable People Meter (PPM) will be rolled out in Nairobi on a pilot basis on Monday.
It will automatically detect and register radio and TV stations within a handler’s vicinity.
“We expect we will go full pilot the coming week, and that will run up to the end of the year. We will be testing the efficacy of this technology after successful encoding of all the broadcast signals within Nairobi,” he said.
The gadget, which looks like a pager is designed to detect radio and TV signals in homes, offices as well as in vehicles.
An encoding device will be installed at the transmission end of every broadcasting media house as that is the signal that will be detected by the PPM.
“The media owners have supported this initiative very well for us to successfully install those gadgets into the broadcast studios,” he said.
Advertisers and media houses will be the main beneficiaries of the new system as it will provide more accurate ratings than the old handwritten logs.
Mr Waititu said the meter will offer quality information on how and when consumers listen and watch TV and also provide advertisers with updated information while at the same time monitoring their advertisements on electronic media.
“It records data minute-by-minute, that means it will deliver to us minute-by-minute ratings as opposed to what we have currently which is 15 minutes by 15 minutes ratings,” he explained.
According to Synovate Pan-Africa Research Director Vivien Marles, Kenya becomes the first country in Africa to deploy the new technology.
She said use of the PPM will give advertising companies accurate and timely information to check on the progress of their services and products as well as make choices of where and when to advertise with particular broadcast stations.
