issue - Meet the China 50

and the countervailing expertise
at the agency level has
diminished. In the scramble
for “insight,” there appears to
be less scrutiny over the ways
and means to achieve it. I
wonder how many agencies
now have the expertise to go
behind a media survey and
take apart the methodology.
This seems to be a dying art.
Yet the great advances in
software now allow data to be
manipulated in more complex
ways and the result is more
data but less understanding.
International planners may
sympathize with this as they
witness the debate over the
international syndicated
studies, EMS, the Europe 2000
series, and EBRS.There has
always been concern over
whether the media owner
sponsors have too much sway
over the direction of the
survey.The withdrawal of
syndicated data after the latest
wave of results points to the
possibility that media owners
were rushing the data processing
stage in order to push their
flattering results out into the
market as soon as possible. But
the fact such companies like
Interview and IPSOS do
make potentially embarrassing
withdrawals in order to check
confirms their integrity and
quality. But they are still not
immune to damaging rumors.
For example, media owners
should not have access to the
sample database before fieldwork
begins in order to market to
future survey respondents to
“artificially” boost readership
or viewership scores.
Given the concerns over
media owner involvement in
the past, it is ironic that it is
the media owners themselves
that are now voicing criticisms.
One common (and longstanding)
question has been
whether the hard-pressed
international ad market can
sustain so many expensive
surveys.The question is raised
but rarely answered. I think the
answer is no, and the existence
of competing surveys is also
divisive and potentially harmful.
Would it not be better—and
more transparent—to have
a single international survey
that covered the main
demographics from a universe
of 40 million down to the
E S S A Y
elite of 400,000 with a
questionnaire allowed for the
key changes in the business
world (such as better coverage
of the many high net-worth
individuals working in companies
with very few employees)?
And perhaps it is time for
the World Press Group and
the TV stations to form a
united World Media Group.
Perhaps, under the auspices of
the Research Committee of
the EACA and the research
companies, their first joint
task could be to draw up
plans for a new single-source
hybrid survey that would be
simple for advertisers and
agencies to understand.
And, just like this article, it
could all begin with just one
phone call… •