ANALYSIS: Research - Rallying to single research cry. The subject of a single Asian research currency remains a contentious issue. Alfred Hille reports

In an economic environment where every dollar counts, the call by media agencies for a single pan-Asian research currency covering print and television is finding an attentive audience among advertisers. Media agencies insist that the move towards a single piece of research to replace the three main studies - ACNielsen's ATMS, AMI's PAX and Ipsos Far East's ABRS - isn't simply self-serving. Indeed, apart from making their lives simpler, it's advertisers and media owners who have as much to gain from having a single commonly-traded research currency. Advertisers who happily splashed out on more than one study in boom times are loathed to do the same in today's lean climate. But it's the benefit to media owners which makes the single research argument particularly compelling. Sponsorship money from media owners - currently split among the three big studies - can be pooled to fund one major study, based on a brief drawn up with media agencies' input. And in line with industry practice, research houses are then invited to pitch for the work. Thereotically, if all goes to plan, this should ensure that the research has more scope, depth and accuracy. As MindShare's regional research director Annette Nazaroff puts it: "Media owners would become more accountable as we would all be debating from the same platform." However, the road to achieving a single source survey is likely to prove to be a long and tortuous one as the different sides seek to protect their own interests. For obvious reasons, research houses, for one, are sceptical that one big survey can replace the current large-scale studies, especially in a region as diverse - culturally, linguistically and ethnically - as Asia-Pacific. Asia Market Intelligence (AMI) director, Miranda Cheung, says: "I don't think it's possible to view Asia as home to a homogenous group of people. Different markets have different priorities. In addition, media owners and agencies have different needs that have to be addressed and accounted for." She pointed to entertainment channels as having a broader audience base compared with their news counterparts, which target a more upmarket viewer. "You can't have one survey for everyone because compromising on priorities among the different parties would be extremely difficult." Cheung acknowledges, however, that single source research might be possible in sub-regions of similar demographics such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines or Korea and Japan. ACNielsen Media International China and Hong Kong executive director Philip Rich said that ATMS, PAX and ABRS all started life serving different purposes and those differences still exist. For instance, ATMS targets the top 10 per cent of theAsian population in major cities around the region, while PAX has a slightly broader focus and ABRS examines the popularityand reach of regional print titles among top business executives. "Every television channel or publication has a slightly different target. That's where ATMS, PAX and ABRS demographic targets are different. "But these differences will likely continue because the separate surveys are funded by media owners within a strong consultation process." But Adrian King, MediaCom director of media research and strategic planning, says the degree of difficulty in moving to a single currency isn't as high as believed. King, who in the mid-1990s helped to set up the European Media and Marketing Survey (EMS) as a single research currency, argues that ATMS, ABRS and PAX are all generally trying to measure the media consumption habits of an upmarket group of people within the Asian population. "There is diversity but the point is that demographically they are similar in that you can characterise them as young males who are high-income earners. When you look at the top stratum of earners, the demographics are reasonably tight," he says. King adds that Asia's diversity cannot be used as an excuse because the EMS research is conducted across Europe, which is also home to a diverse group of people, culture and language. He stresses, however, that there are other studies in Europe such as EBRS and Europe 2000, but claims that EMS is "the most comprehensive in terms of brand volumetric data and media consumption data in the top 20 per cent of income earners". However, it's feared that an Asian version of EMS would put a dent in the profitability of some of the big pan-regional studies. But not all media agencies are in agreement with each other. Universal McCann executive vice-president and regional director Allan Medforth says: "It would be lovely to have a piece of single currency research but it's fraught with dangers because everyone has different values and purposes." BBC World's London-based head of research Jeremy Nye believes that there is more of a consensus among media owners in Asia-Pacific than in Europe. However, he stressed that disagreements were "often most intense between companies with similar target audiences and interests". There is also debate over the survey's methodology. Some say it should be face-to-face because researchers need about two hours to complete the survey. MindShare's Nazaroff adds: "Keeping it interesting is the key, including letting the respondents understand that he is taking part in something important. The type of questions and the time required dictate the methodology." But others say this would be too costly. MediaCom's King advocates telephone interviews to get media consumption data, followed by a printed questionnaire to collect brand consumption data. "Face-to-face interviews are the best, because it gives the best qualitative and quantitative data but we must look at the costs. It might not be realistic." Media owners, meanwhile, say that they would welcome a single research currency. Fiona Dance, Business Week regional research manager, says the different studies conducted by the big research houses are a good source of information about people and their media usage habits. "We use our subscriber base to conduct proprietary research and we are always looking for other sources of information. But it would be nice if we could get it from a single source," Dance says. However, given the downturn in the worldwide economy, costs are becoming a more critical factor in determining which and how many surveys to sponsor. Most of the regional media owners said they would continue subscribing to research as a demonstration of their accountability to their advertisers. But while the print media may be satisfied with yearly surveys, regional satellite and cable operators have a trickier balancing act to perform because they also have ACNielsen and Taylor Nelsen Sofres (TNS) peoplemeters as a purchase option. Star's vice-president of corporate affairs and publicity Jannie Poon says: "We will always place great importance on research whether our own or through independent third parties, but cost reduction of expenditure items is the order of the day right now." CNBC Asia's current strategy is to focus on data generated by ACNielsen's peoplemeter panels. This was underlined two weeks ago when ACNielsen announced it had signed CNBC to a three-year contract covering eight Asian markets: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. CNBC Asia general manager of marketing and communications, Miguel Bernas, says the peoplemeters provide current data, which "media planners look for and it's the type of data cable operators need to beat their terrestrial competitors". BBC World has opted for a combination, but is only sticking with PAX after asking for "improvements". Nye says: "This has been done by stripping out unnecessary questions, and beefing up the television section to include the length of viewing by daypart for the previous day. The key data provided by PAX 2001 will be similar to that collected in radio measurement - day-after recall." The BBC also uses peoplemeters, however, this option is reviewed regularly because of cost.

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