• by Joe Mandese , May 17, 2006

In a bizarre string of events, a respected media research firm has bowed out of a radio industry initiative to develop a new, state-of-the-art audience measurement system, but members of the initiative are denying the pull out. Mediamark Research Inc., a company best known as Madison Avenue's source for magazine audience estimates, informed the so-called cross-industry evaluation team managing the research proposal requests that it was pulling out of the short list, which also includes radio ratings giant Arbitron and an alliance of local market media researcher The Media Audit and Europe's Ipsos (MediaDailyNews May 15).

A spokesperson for the task force, which has been led by radio broadcasting giant Clear Channel Communications, denied that MRI has pulled out of the running, and asked MDN to issue a correction. A spokesperson for MRI said, "MRI made its position clear last Friday. If the situation changes, we will let the industry know."

MRI declined to comment further, but Mediaweek reported on the contents of a letter sent Friday by MRI Vice President-Research Jay Mattlin to Clear Channel Senior Vice President-Research Jess Hanson, which purportedly said, "We feel that we can no longer participate in the evaluation process at this time."

Executives familiar with the situation say MRI was eager to move forward with its research proposal, but didn't want to invest in the resources necessary to mount a field test of its methods without support from the radio industry. There was also some concern that MRI might only be a stalking horse to put pressure on Arbitron to negotiate better terms with radio broadcasters. Arbitron has announced plans to begin replacing its paper diary system with portable people meters, but reportedly has asked for humongous price increases over its current research contracts.

In a meeting with MDN on Tuesday, Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan said he would be prepared to "help fund" a market trial by MRI and believed that other radio broadcasters would agree to as well.