InterMedia introduces AudienceScapes, a multi-pronged media and communications research tool for development, to the Salzburg Global Seminar

Peter Goldstein, director of online communications at InterMedia, recently travelled to Austria to introduce participants in the Salzburg Global Seminar to the AudienceScapes project, a treasure trove of media, communication and demographic data and analysis that will be a vital resource for the international development community.
The first segment of the project, an in-depth interview report of how policy makers and influencers in Ghana access and disseminate policy-relevant information, is due for release in the next several weeks.
Mr. Goldstein highlighted AudienceScapes’ potential value to NGOs, governments and international development agencies seeking to improve their project success rates through more effective communication to the general public, as well as to policymakers, in the developing world.
“This project promises to add a major dimension of information ‘from a user perspective, demand-side’ on media consumption in the developing world,” remarked Anne Nelson, Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, in her blog post from the seminar. To read the entire press release, click here.

InterMedia Launches African Research Program and Online Resource To Support Development Communications

InterMedia, a nonprofit research, evaluation and consulting organization, today announced a new program, aimed at improving development project success rates through more effective communication to the general public, as well as to policymakers, in the developing world.   
The program, supported initially by a $1.29 million two-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is made up of a pair of closely-linked initiatives:

• InterMedia will launch a quantitative and qualitative research program in Africa to fill knowledge gaps in how people gather, share and shape news and information, particularly as they relate to development.
• InterMedia will launch an interactive website “AudienceScapes” to disseminate data and analysis from the Africa research program as well as research on communication, media use and information sharing covering several other developing regions.

“InterMedia is unusually well positioned to produce and disseminate high-quality media use and communication behavior data and analysis. This will go a long way toward supporting smarter, more cost-effective development policy, programs and outcomes,” said the Chair of InterMedia’s Board of Directors, Ambassador Richard Carlson. “While development organizations worldwide will be the beneficiaries, the winners, ultimately, will be the people in the world’s poorest countries who are desperate for reliable public interest information.” To read the entire press release in PDF, click here.

InterMedia contributes analysis of the television market in India to global internet research project.

A new website looks at children's television in developing countries. To visit, click here.

InterMedia finds support for NATO membership increases in Bosnia but drops to 2005 levels in Montenegro

Domestic politics appear to be a root cause of fluctuating levels of support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over the past 12 months among the populations of the Balkans—Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia. Montenegro saw a significant drop in support for NATO membership in the past year (following a large increase after independence in 2006); support in Serbia has remained fairly steady. Bosnia—where internal tensions are at their highest levels in years, putting the country squarely back on the international agenda—saw a significant increase in support for membership between 2007 and 2008.

The fall 2008 data are the latest from InterMedia’s decade-long annual program of tracking communication and media behaviors, and public opinion across the Balkans, and follows a 2008 12-country InterMedia report that looked at support for NATO membership as well as the organization’s public diplomacy and strategic communication efforts.

“Although there have been a number of international events that, in theory, should have similarly affected support across the region—such as membership in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program by all three countries in 2006, NATO’s problems in Afghanistan, and the independence of Kosovo—there has not been a consistent rise or fall of support for NATO membership there,” said InterMedia’s SE Europe Regional Research Manager Aneta Genova. “Instead, trends have varied in each country over the past year. Support for NATO membership in the region seems much more closely related to internal politics.”

To read the entire press release, click here.

InterMedia Reaches New Milestone

With the conclusion of its most recent research in Russia in December, 2008, InterMedia completed its 700th survey. This is the latest milestone for the organization, which, over the past 13 years has surveyed more than 1.2 million people in more than 60 countries around the globe. And the number keeps growing. In the next few months, data from national surveys undertaken between November 2008 and January 2009 in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, will be available. In fact, several of the surveys were in process during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and provide insights into the effect of the invasion on Arab attitudes. Data from China, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda and Laos, among others, also will be available soon. For more information on these and other surveys, contact Alex Wooley. Click here for an updated list of where and when InterMedia has conducted research.

InterMedia Welcomes a New Research Director

Joachim Bruess, Ph.D., recently took over the helm of InterMedia’s research activities, coordinating and overseeing the company’s quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation activities in more than 60 countries around the globe. Joachim brings with him to the post more than 12 years’ experience in statistical analysis, demography and migration studies; he has designed, budgeted, organized and directed research projects for national organizations and universities both in the U.S. and in his native Bielefeld, Germany.

Joachim was previously with the National Committee for Quality Assurance and AARP, both in Washington, D.C., and at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Conflict and Violence at the University of Bielefeld, where he earned his Ph.D. in sociology. He served as primary German researcher for a University of Michigan- and European Commission-funded comparative study of Muslims in Europe and the United States.

InterMedia is very excited to have Joachim heading up a growing team of analysts—now comprising nearly 20 regional experts who collect and distill data, says InterMedia president Mark Rhodes.

“Joachim’s depth of knowledge and his wide-ranging experience will help us meet a growing demand for our services by enhancing our research capacity in the short term and deepening and expanding it in the long,” he says. “He and his team of analysts are the backbone of the organization, and strengthen InterMedia’s position as a leading one-stop source for media and communications data and analysis.”

“I am very excited about the opportunity to help shape InterMedia’s research agenda and to become involved in new research projects and product development initiatives,” adds Joachim. “InterMedia’s data and publications are known for reliable high quality results, my team and I are committed to help strengthen and advance this reputation.”

For a list of InterMedia’s recent quantitative surveys, click here; for a list of upcoming studies, click here. Or contact Alex Wooley, InterMedia’s Vice President of Communications and Development for more information about how our research can help you reach your target audiences.

Armenians Most Favorably Inclined Towards Russia and Optimistic about Democracy in their Country

Despite a powerful Diaspora lobby in the United States, Armenians’ positive feelings towards the U.S. are nearly 40 percentage points behind their feelings towards neighboring Russia. So says a survey of the small (3 million inhabitants) yet strategically located nation, conducted earlier this year by InterMedia.

The InterMedia survey found fully 90 percent of Armenians are favorably inclined towards Russia, but only 53 percent say they are so inclined towards the United States. Only slightly more than one-quarter of Armenians, 28 percent, are favourably inclined towards their northern neighbour, Georgia.

Armenia is strategically significant in the region due in part to its location at both the energy and ethnic crossroads of Europe, Asia and Middle East. With growing demand for energy resources in the world, Armenia is an important player among three regional powers—Iran, Turkey and Russia—all of which compete for political and economic leadership in the region. By offering its support, Russia prevents Turkey from penetrating into Muslim and Turkic-speaking Central Asian republics and so keeps its influence in the Caucasus region. Through Armenia, Russia also has direct access to Iran’s energy resources.

Opinions on NATO Membership Among Neighboring Countries

A new InterMedia report takes a closer look at shifting perceptions of NATO membership among the populations of 12 countries of the former Soviet Union and the Balkans, all potential NATO members, as well as providing an analysis of NATO’s recent efforts to reach out to broader publics, many of whom are too young to recall NATO’s pivotal role in the Cold War.

The report is based on InterMedia’s extensive multi-year quantitative and qualitative research program in the two regions, including more than 320 general population surveys fielded over the last 12 years  collecting data on how populations gather, share and shape information using different media, including new and emerging communication technologies, as well as what they think about key international and domestic issues and institutions.

Countries covered in the report: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.

Latest Survey Data are Now Available

These recent survey data track media and new technology use—the most popular channels and stations, who is using radio, television, press, the internet and SMS; the frequency with which they use them, and what they use them for. The datasets provide detailed information about radio and television access and ownership among various segments of the population, as well as how and where people go online, their favorite websites and online activities. These data also gauge the various topics that interest media consumers, and reveal their most important news and information sources. The latest sets include:

Armenia

• Sample size:  2,000

Fieldwork was conducted just prior to national elections on 19 February; data show television and radio use was significantly up from the previous year, as was interest in politics.

Azerbaijan

• Sample size: 2,522

This data captures the significant change in media use caused by the closing of all Russian television stations in Azerbaijan. Use of Russian media for news gathering went from 30 percent to 12 percent weekly over the past year. Satellite use in the country doubled.

Indonesia

• Sample size: 3,012

A broad range of media and demographic information that covers 93 percent of Indonesia’s adult population.

Laos

• Sample size:  1,500

A rare data set covering media use patterns, social capital variables, measures of grassroots opinion leadership and political knowledge in Laos.

Somalia

• Sample size: 509

The extreme local conditions have resulted in a number of technology leaps: a majority of the adult population now have access to cellular phones, and SMS-based news service providers have become a very important source of news and information.

Syria

• Sample size: 1,502

Modest efforts at liberalization have helped propel internet use in Syria over the last five years. More than two-thirds of monthly users access the internet at home, a surprising majority that increases according to level of education.

African Broadcast and Film Markets Report

A new in-depth analytical report, produced by InterMedia in partnership with U.K.-based Balancing Act, uncovers valuable insights into the continent’s rapidly changing and ever-more sophisticated media landscape—insights broadcasters, advertisers, NGOs and governments can use to increase their reach and strengthen their impact among African audiences. African Broadcast and Film Markets draws on  years’ worth of InterMedia-Balancing Act survey data, interviews, research, analysis and strategy, all gathered into one accessible resource that provides an expansive yet detailed picture of how audiences and the media are developing across Africa, both sub-Saharan and North Africa.

The days in which African consumers have the choice of only a few government-controlled radio and television stations are at an end. As is the case elsewhere in the world, new technologies—the internet, SMS, mobile phone—are becoming increasingly accessible and affordable to the continent’s  emerging  middle class. Often, these technologies converge: people go online to listen to the radio and read newspapers; soon they will be able to use their mobile phones to watch television programs. Widespread broadband connectivity is likely in the not-too-distant future.

Through their study of 17 key African markets, InterMedia and Balancing Act analysts explore these trends in detail. They have uncovered data revealing audience profiles as well as shifting trends in programming, channels, platforms and technologies.