6-30-2014
I recently received some exciting news about being added as a member of the Council for Research Excellence. When I first heard about CRE, right after the acquisition of Arbitron, I was intrigued about what this organization could bring to the audio industry. Many of you I?m sure know little or nothing about the Council for Research Excellence. CRE consists of 40 Nielsen clients who are senior-level research professionals representing agencies and media companies. Since 2005, the Council has collaborated on many research projects with the goal of providing impactful data across the industry. It was formed and funded by Nielsen as an independent ?think tank.?
As a member of both the Radio Advisory Council and NAB?s COLRAM, both committees advocated Nielsen for admission into CRE so radio could get it?s well-deserved ?seat at the table.? Our industry should be pleased that Nielsen heard that request loud and clear and accepted the invitation.
So why am I excited about being a member of the Council for Research Excellence? First and foremost, as a professional radio advocate, I?m glad we are in the same discussion as our counterparts in TV. The CRE roster is rich and experienced, and to have radio on that team is a thrill. (Check out our website at www.researchexcellence.com)
Secondly, I love being exposed to new intelligent minds that all of us in the industry can learn from. The CRE mission is to identify specific methodological research on audience measurement and report the findings to the Nielsen client base.
The membership from radio besides Greater Media are: Univision (Kathleen Bohan), RAB (Andy Rainey), and Katz Media Group (Stacey Schulman). I hope that all of us can bring a fresh perspective and curiosity from within our industry. Even though all media outlets face new challenges and opportunities every day, radio does have its own unique set of them to consider.
In my view, ?research excellence? means that whether it?s your own internal think-tank, or it?s the Council for Research Excellence, you bring together the brightest, most curious minds and ask questions about listener/consumer behavior to help grow your brand. As radio tries to meet all of its challenges ?head on,? we need to sharpen our saw and learn from the television industry and consumers.
