20 hours of online learning + online exam (1 hour)
The Media Research Essentials Certificate is designed to provide the core media research knowledge and skills that anyone working within the media industry should have to thrive in their career. Exclusive access for Members ONLY.
Exam Dates: 31 July | 27 November
Refer to qualification policies.
Overview
The trading of advertising space relies on one crucial premise – that there is a common ‘trading currency’ between all parties i.e., each party needs to know the number of people who have watched a TV programme, have visited a website, or read a newspaper, so that they can concentrate on agreeing the amount to be paid for that advertising space.
The key question is; where does the ‘trading currency’ come from? It comes from conducting industry-approved media research surveys that measure consumers’ media habits and make their findings available to all parties (advertisers, media owners, advertising agencies) for evaluation purposes.
What to expect
20 hours of interactive online learning via six modules designed to provide you with:
- the building blocks required to interrogate media and survey data
- an understanding of what good accurate data is
- and illustrate how media research and media planning can be used for your client(s).
Who’s it for?
ENTRY LEVEL, 0-2 years experience
This qualification is designed for junior members of media and communications agencies or career switchers who wish to better their understanding of media research.
Course Content
The learning is delivered via six modules designed to provide you with the building blocks required to interrogate media and survey data, to understand what good accurate data is and see how media research and media planning can be used for your client(s).
Module 1 – Fundamental Skills
In this module, we start by introducing the basic media trading data, including ratings, impressions, reach and frequency. You will learn how each are applied and used in media planning. You will then learn how to interrogate the various industry surveys, using online software to generate crosstabs and learn how to interpret these. We finish this module by showing you how to quickly find information online with plenty of “Insider Tips” from industry experts.
Module 2 – Conducting Research
We will cover the two main methodologies for media research, qualitative and quantitative. We will explore each approach, and learn how and when to use them when writing or answering a research brief.
Module 3 – Data Evaluation
In module 3, you will learn the basic skills to interrogate and manipulate data and be statistically confident with your findings. Use these findings to discover consumer insights through sources such as social media or Google trends.
Module 4 – Advertising Media Surveys and Data Sources
This module explores the key global media surveys used for media planning, along with the two industry data sources for measuring advertising expenditure and digital media audience behaviours. These are extensively used by the advertising industry to interrogate consumer’s behaviours and lifestyle in conjunction with their media consumption.
Learning how to use the content contained within these surveys will enable you to select the right one for interrogation to discover consumer insights.
- Industry surveys – TGI
- Industry surveys – GWI surveys
- Industry surveys – Business Affluent survey
- Industry surveys – Business Influencers survey
- Industry surveys – MRI survey in America
- How is the data collected – comScore/Iris
- How is the data collected – Advertising Expenditure
Module 5 – Media Knowledge
Here you will learn the various approaches to measuring individual media such as TV, Print, Radio, and Outdoor. You will also gain an understanding of the various digital platforms (SEO, SEM, Social marketing). This module will use an example from one market to explain how their research survey is conducted. There is no single research methodology used by all countries.
Module 6 – Media Planning
Media planning uses all the knowledge and techniques gained from Modules 1 to 5 to create media plans for a specific campaign. Here you will see the way in which media research data is used to plan across the consumer journey, enhancing its viewability, relevance, etc. You will learn how to plan across digital paid media using data such as Google trends, and profile audiences within a media channel (for example, Facebook) to target specific audiences.
A certificate of completion is awarded to all delegates who successfully pass the exam.
Besides the amazing mix of speakers, coming from a small independent agency, it was really good to get amongst the other delegates and hear their experiences, challenges and successes.
Besides the amazing mix of speakers, coming from a small independent agency, it was really good to get amongst the other delegates and hear their experiences, challenges and successes.