• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 3, 2010

The global media research agenda, which arguably has been dominated by Western Europeans - especially Brits - for the past couple of decades, is shifting back to the U.S., and new media, especially social media, appears to be the big factor. ESOMAR, the big multinational, multimedia research trade group, has just announced the agenda for its WM3 2010 conference, which takes place in Berlin in October, and it is dominated by new media research perspectives and methods being developed in the U.S., especially those involving interactive and digital media, as well as the promising field of neuroscientfic research.

That shift may be intentional, Conference Chair Tony Jarvis tells MediaDailyNews, noting that when it comes to the fastest and most dynamic media developments, especially the rampant growth of social media, and research emanating from it, "the U.S. has a lot to offer a European-centric organization like ESOMAR."

Jarvis should know. A British native who held dual citizenship in Canada, and recently became a U.S. citizen, Jarvis has worked for some of the world's biggest advertisers, agencies and media vendors, and now he heads Olympic Media Consultancy. Over the past two decades, Jarvis says he has seen the media research's focus shift from the U.S. to Western Europe and now it appears to be shifting back once again, mainly because the U.S. has the lead on the most dynamic part of the media business - the part that consumers are affecting themselves.

In fact, the ESOMAR conference will focus explicitly on the "increasing role" consumers are playing the creation and distribution of media content, and how that in turn is changing the way marketers and agencies evaluate media.

Keynotes will include two "day in the life" presentations: One on "How Mobile is Changing The Sociology, Psychology, and The Entertainment/Work Environment" by Jacobs Media's Paul Jacobs and Arbitron's Ed Cohen; and another on the "Reach/Frequency And Optimization Challenges As Traditional Media Go Digital" by Jarvis and International Media Research's Pete Walsh.

Another will delve into the brain, literally, via a presentation by Innerscope's Dr. Carl Marci and Turner Broadcasting's Stacey Lynn Schulman on "Measuring The Impact of Contextual Advertising Beyond Recall."

More details of the ESOMAR conference will be disclosed later this month, but the timing of the U.S.-centric agenda is interesting, because it comes as ESOMAR is rumored to be resuming discussions with the U.S.' Advertising Research Foundation about collaborating once again.