Study Finds Media Usage Grossly Undercounted

Syndicated research reports are tools media planners live by among other methods to determine the media a particular target audience is consuming and how much a given medium should be used to reach that target group. Unfortunately, those syndicated research tools are grossly undercounting actual media usage according to a new study from Ball State University's Center For Media Design.

The study followed 101 people around for a day observing actual media usage and then compared it to usage determined by written diary and phone survey. Computer usage is undercounted by 205 percent, online by 169 percent, television by 164 percent, books by 100 percent, magazines by 75 percent, radio by 74 percent and newspapers by 13 percent. These findings should be a wake up call to by syndicated researchers and to media planners who, based on these findings, might want to reconsider the media weighting of their plans.