What is media research

The Media Research is an organizational function that operates within media centers.

It deals with performing critical analysis and collective surveys about the audience based on research on communication media.

In essence, the main task of media research is to coordinate the company's research projects.

It conducts investigations with its own means or commissions them to other structures, such as: research institutes, audience measurement companies.

Research on communication media is important in the field of advertising, because it is used both to guide advertising programming and to verify its effectiveness.

Media research is used to estimate the audience of communication mediums and vehicles, and for its segmentation.

Media Research Tests

For the success of a TV program or an advertising campaign, it is important to follow tests that can provide media with insight into what the audience is looking for and desires.

Research on media tests begins with interviews and focus groups, viewers are more likely to rate something positively in the presence of a researcher, or they will try to agree with the people around them.

In addition to traditional tests, attempts have been made to test participants as objectively as possible:

• Eye tracking: which is the ability to see what people are watching, visual attention is recorded and measured. These are tracking data where it's possible to measure how many people actually saw an advertisement and what caught their attention;
• GSR: namely, Galvanic Skin Response, is a measure of physiological arousal detected by changes in the sweat glands of the skin. It allows to identify moments of increased or decreased excitement, to determine changes in sweat gland activity. This enables the collection and analysis of data to ascertain whether a scene is exciting or not;
• Facial Expression Analysis: these are tests on positive or negative emotions when viewing a scene that involve facial expressions. Facial expression analysis presents the simplest and least invasive method for measuring emotional expressions;
• EEG: requires the placement of electrodes on the scalp and recording of electrical activity generated by thousands of neurons, these tests are also used to indicate feelings of approach when viewing a particular scene;
• Subconscious responses: allow for a passive understanding of the audience's reaction to media by asking media consumers what they think about advertisements;
• Media forecasts: gather information with media and predict the likelihood of future success for an advertising campaign or multimedia content.

Thanks to various tests, it is possible to assume whether an advertisement will be effective or not in the eyes of viewers.