Radio audience figures standarized; Poles buy into Wizja TV
Advertisers and radio broadcasters announced an agreement for a standard method of measuring audience levels last week. They selected SMG/KRC Poland's (a market research company) Radio Track research, which will be conducted on a group of up to 100,000 respondents per year with the help of computer-assisted telephone interviews.
"It took weeks to agree on details, but the research itself started in January," said Maciej Chodorowski, director of research at CR-Media, a media consultancy firm financing the research. Chodorowski said the $1 million financing was worthwhile. The cost of the research will be covered by companies present on the local radio market, specifically: RMF FM and Radio ZET (two of the leading commercial radio stations), public broadcaster Polskie Radio, as well as Agora, ZPR, Radio WaWa, Media Tak and CR-Media.
Radiometria (radio audience research based on portable electronic devices supplying signals to a certain station) will no longer be used, according to Chodorowski. Radiometria was conducted on a group of 1,100 respondents, changing every two weeks.
According to Chodorowski, the agreed method of researching the radio market will attract more ad spending. From May to November, out of zl. 418 million ($95 million) spent by advertisers, 50% went to local radio stations, CR-Media estimated.
Chodorowski said that the founders of the research standard will now own the results. "That means that we will be able to impact its shape for some time only the researcher (SMG/KRC for instance) could profile the research," he said.
Media budget planners, who previously suffered from poor research data, are also counting on unified figures for the outdoor ad market. Under an agreement last year, a similar standard was financed by a group of three outdoor ad companies.
In December, 467,000 households had decoders for Wizja TV's digital platform, according to market research company TNS Osrodek Badania Opinii Publicznej (TNS OBOP). The same research said decoders for Cyfra+, Canal+ Polska's digital platform, were sold to 296,000 households. Also, 114,000 households had decoders for Polsat2 Cyfrowy, Polsat's digital platform. In 2000, more than 12 million people had TV sets in Poland.
The relaunch of Marie Claire is to be delayed. French group Marie Claire along with Hearst-Marquand, the publisher of Cosmopolitan and Shape, was to relaunch the Polish edition of Marie Claire last week, but is now being reorganized, said Urszula Dziewit, publishing director at Marie Claire. "We are waiting for the final decision from France," she said. "I hope it will be all right." Marie Claire had previously been published by MC Press, but folded in December 1999 due to weak sales. The second generation Marie Claire will have a new staff and new editor in chief, Urszula Imieninska, the former editor of biweekly Viva. Marie Claire has 24 editions worldwide and 15 million readers.
The media advertising campaign of new broadcaster, TV Puls, will start on March 5. It will be prepared by Warsaw-based Publicis advertising company.
TV Puls, which promises to be a mix of information and entertainment, will be produced by Spolka Producencka TV Familijna, and is scheduled to launch on March 18. TV Puls' shareholders include KGHM Polska Miedz, PZU Zycie, Prokom, Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen and the Franciscan order, which holds a multi-regional TV broadcasting license.
Amsterdam-based United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) will replace flagship channel Wizja 1, scheduled to go off the air on March 31, with three new channels: Extreme Sports, Avante and Club, the company announced last week. The new channels will be available both on the Wizja TV digital platform and on UPC's cable platform, UPC Telewizja Kablowa (formerly Polska Telewizja Kablowa). The new channels are produced by UPC's subsidiary, UPCtv, which is responsible for producing thematic channels (movie, entertainment, sport channels, etc.) to be offered on all European markets. Wizja 1, a comedy and entertainment channel, is one of two Wizja TV channels, apart from Wizja Sport, produced exclusively for a Polish audience.
Last week, nascent media group 4Media (formerly Chemiskor, a tannery listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange) acquired a 60% stake in Goleniow-based 7Press (north of Szczecin) for zl. 600,000. The payment will be made in three installments. 7Press publishes three local weeklies: 7 dni Stargardu (Seven Days of Stargard), 7dni Gryfic and 7 dni Gryfina. By acquiring these three new publications, 4Media will control 10 local publications. Additionally it will be able to publish another 12 7Press titles that are registered but not yet published.
According to 4Media spokeswoman, Monika Sarnecka, the company is in talks with many more local publishers. "Interest in our project is so great that it's beyond our expectations," she said.
4Media plans to build a media group based on local press, free press, printing plants, local radio stations and the Internet.
