Measurement: How can PR get the most out of Media Content Analysis?

Published 2007

Most everyone who engages in public relations looks at, or formally evaluates, print media or press clippings and electronic media transcripts to see how much coverage their organisation - or their competitors - is achieving. But too few appreciate that by undertaking in-depth media content analysis it is possible to obtain measurement on a wide range of parameters, to do with public campaigns and issues.

What is Media Content Analysis?

Media content analysis is an element of media evaluation or media analysis. Used since the 1980s content analysis is usually combined with media data such as ciruculation hence the term media content analysis. Unlike simple media monitoring, media content analysis looks at the qualitative side of the coverage not just the quantitative (ie number of clips etc).

Media content analysis can help answer questions such as:

• What is your challenge in differentiating your brand against your competitors?
• What message platform are you currently conveying to the media?
• Sources - what was your share of voice (SOV) compared with competitors or other sources?

But is our understanding of media content analysis limited? For example, we often think of media content analysis as useful for simply analysing a specific campaign such as measuring sponsorship etc.  But the real value is often in sighting trends and looking at themes across a sector - looking ahead rather than looking behind.

An excellent example of future gazing was in 1982 when John Naisbitt did an extensive content analysis of  the US media to form the basis of his well known book Megatrends.

The following are just a few ways to use media content analysis research:

• Campaign Measurement

        This type of analysis is for a finite period of time. For example a typical analysis would look at a sponsorship event and track the coverage for that over a month or a few weeks. The analysis is predominantly a report card although if organisations are doing the sponsorship every year it can be a good gauge for fine-tuning the event the next year.

• Brand and Reputation Management

Whatever is said in the media can effect your brand and companies reputation. Media content analysis can give you early warning signals of negative media messages that you can address quickly.

• Competitor Tracking/ Share of Voice

To understand the success of your own communication strategy it is also important to monitor and analyse those of your competitors. This is particularly important if you are trying to find out a niche area to comment on and become the ‘expert’.

• Environmental scan/benchmark

One of the most common uses for media content analysis is to get a ‘gauge’ on a sector or an organisation. This is particularly useful for communications managers who have taken on a new job and need to get a snapshot of where their organisation is sitting in the sector and some sector trends.  It is also a valuable benchmarking tool to have before you implement your own communication strategies.

• Issues Management

One of the more complex areas of media content analysis is issues management. This is usually researched over many months and looks for trends in key negative and positive issues, key stakeholders including related dominant messages.

A good example of issues tracking is the recent Media Monitors report on the Water debate in Australia called  Drought of Action; A Flood of Politics, Vested Interests and Nimbyism

The analysis was undertaken by Media Monitors for the period January to 30 April 2007 and provides useful insights that communication managers in this sector need answered such as:

• What are the key issues that are gaining attention - i.e. the specific issues. In the case of water, eg. is it recycling, or desalination, or river management, or dams, etc;
• Who is driving those issues - eg. key spokespersons, organisations which are protagonists and antagonists;
• Which issues are rising in debate and which are declining - important for knowing what has to be engaged with and what can be left alone;
• The key dominant messages reaching the public and key stakeholders which are indicative of likely public opinion trends - are the messages balanced, unbalanced, etc.

Of course it needs to be noted that the Water Report is a generic report done across a sector. Client analysis is bespoke, normally conducted specifically for you, so you  can drill further into specific issues that concern you and your organisation.

Note: The author of this article is a senior Sydney-based independent corporate PR consultant who works with Australian PR Managers to help them evaluate and measure the effectiveness of PR programs. He also undertakes PR audits of PR Department structures and programs. In addition he provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice. He blogs regularly on PR and communications topics similar to those in this article.

See comments on the implications for Australian PR Directors and Managers of a 2010 US survey on PR measurement