Small stations may not be included in new radio market study

Small radio stations were not ready to pay for the new market research, which will be conducted by GfK Ukraine. GfK is now just forming the value for these companies, but, according to market participants, it has tripled. As a result, two studies may appear on the market at once - small players are considering the possibility of continuing to work with the previous researcher - TNS Ukraine.

Yesterday, during the presentation of a new study of the audience of radio stations, representatives of small radio companies said that they would not be able to pay for the services of GfK Ukraine. “We are not refusing to participate, but we cannot afford it,” says Evgeniy Chernyavsky, director of the Nostalgie station. The head of the GfK media department, Olga Rosmanova, says that the cost for individual radio companies will be determined next week. According to preliminary estimates, it will be from 20 thousand UAH per year for one city station.

Until now, the radio audience was studied together with other media (radio audience was measured separately only in Kyiv). But starting next year, a special study will be carried out for radio, the cost of which is higher. Now surveys will be held in all cities with a population of more than 50 thousand people (91 cities), and the study sample will increase from 20 thousand to 47.2 thousand people per year. This decision was made by the participants of the largest industry association "Radio Committee", which includes two largest market players "Ukrainian Media Holding" (stations "Europe Plus", "Avtoradio", "Retro FM" and others) and "Tavr Media" ("Russian Radio" , "Hit FM", Kiss FM, Radio Roks), as well as advertising holdings. The researcher has also changed - if previously it was the TNS Ukraine company, now it will become GfK (see Kommersant on October 28) .

The total cost of the new study, according to market participants, will be three times higher than the previous one - about $630 thousand per year. More than 50% will be paid by the Radio Committee, the rest by small stations. If the company cannot reimburse the full cost of the study, then the Radio Committee and GfK will share the losses among themselves, Ms. Rosmanova explained yesterday. Those radio stations that do not pay for the study will not appear in GfK data, the Radio Committee explains. They will be grouped under "Other" and advertisers will not be able to see their data.

Even the previous study was not paid for by everyone - the share of stations that fell into the “Other” column accounted for 17-18% of the entire radio audience, notes Mr. Chernyavsky. At the presentation, representatives of individual stations said they feared for the reliability of such a study, since it would reflect “not the market share of participants, but their ability to pay.” “For the agency and the advertiser, the absence of a station in the study means that the company is not interested in publishing its data,” said Alexander Baranovsky, vice president of the advertising holding ADV Group and head of the Radio Committee.

In fact, in this case, the income of small stations will be reduced, and they will be forced to sell, notes Anatoly Evtukhov, general producer of the Business Radio Group holding (Radio Sharmanka, Chanson). He intends to invite small radio stations to continue their contract with TNS. “I have a contract with the previous researcher for another two years. If the Radio Committee intends to use GfK data, then nothing prevents the rest of the market from reaching an agreement with TNS,” he says.

Maria Popova

The radio will cut the wave