HOBART'S commercial radio stations are long overdue for a comprehensive independent listenership survey,

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HOBART'S commercial radio stations are long overdue for a
comprehensive independent listenership survey, leaving advertisers
without key information on whether they are reaching the audience they
pay for.

The last independent survey was conducted in 2002. Leading media
research company Neilsen questioned how the stations could justify
their advertising fees without recent listenership data.

But several of the stations said they conducted their own surveys and
market research and said they would be happy to take part in any
independent survey.

Their own survey information and research is not available to the
public or competitors.

In other regional cities of comparable size to Hobart, such as
Wollongong and Canberra, full ratings surveys are conducted once or
twice a year.

Nielsen Media Research managing director Peter Cornelius said it had
been an unusually long time between surveys for Hobart.

He said commercial networks needed independent listenership data to
justify their advertising fees.

"In a perfect world we would like to see stations in metropolitan
cities like Hobart doing a survey every year," he said.

"Surveys tend to be driven by the main commercial networks but there
have been no inquiries or signs of interest from any Hobart stations
that I'm aware of."

Mr Cornelius said a full survey was necessary so there would be open
and publicly available information verifying radio listenership in
Hobart, particularly for advertising.

Radio surveys by Nielsen are usually diary-based, with a randomly
selected sample of people logging their daily listening habits for
four-week periods, sometimes longer. The surveys are used to help
broadcasters know how many people are listening to their station, what
times they are listening, which segments are most popular and which
demographics are tuning in.

For commercial stations this information is also used to help
determine advertising charges.

Stephanie Teague, media director for Tasmanian advertising firm
Clemenger, said it was time for Hobart to have a full survey done.

"And they also need to do it more consistently because even once a
year is not often enough," she said.

"But these surveys can also be quite expensive and the costs of doing
regular surveys would most likely be passed on to the advertisers."

Mrs Teague said Clemenger kept track of listenership trends in
Tasmania through survey data from Roy Morgan Research, which conducts
constant listenership monitoring surveys, which are available on a
subscription basis to clients.

But she said the Morgan data was not as detailed as that which would
be provided through a direct, intensive survey.

7HOFM general manager David Hoey said he would be interested in taking
part in a survey if one was planned but said his station also
conducted its own market research.

"The market has been surveyed and tracked in that period since 2002,"
he said.

"We do our own research, usually by phone contact or focus groups."

Macquarie Southern Cross Media (SeaFM and Heart FM) CEO Rhys Holleran
said he would be interested in discussing the possibility of a survey
with the other stations but nobody had contacted him.

"We're enjoying good business at the moment and we are very happy with
our position in the market," he said.

"Our programming with SeaFM and Heart is incredibly popular and not
only are we doing very well in terms of listeners but advertisers are
very happy with where we are as well."

ABC Tasmania local radio manager Cath Hurley said the ABC commissioned
its own survey in Hobart in 2004 but the information gathered was
confidential.

"We would be very keen to have a full survey done but the cost of
doing it on our own is prohibitive so we would need the commercial
stations to want to do it as well," she said.