ARF Presents Gale Metzger With Lifetime Achievement Award, Recognizing Industry-Wide Impact of His Leadership in Media Research

Knowledge Networks consultant guided innovations

that improved the quality of radio, TV research;

cofounded Statistical Research, Inc.

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 2 /PRNewswire/ — The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) yesterday presented Gale D. Metzger with its Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his long-standing commitment to accurate, reliable, and innovative media research. The award was presented at the Great Minds luncheon during the ARF annual convention in New York City.

In a career that began in 1958, Metzger has helped bring the industry a variety of research innovations and founded long-running media services. In 1968, he cofounded Statistical Research, Inc. (with Gerald Glasser), which became the foundation of the Knowledge Networks custom media practice in 2001. Today, Metzger serves as a consultant to Knowledge Networks (KN), and several key media products and services he helped establish – as well as his quality-first approach to research – remain as core elements of KN.

“We are proud to see the ARF recognize Gale’s remarkable half-century of research achievements,” said Simon Kooyman, Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Networks. “He has set a standard for accuracy and integrity that we consider inspirational, and his leadership in encouraging the industry to honor statistically reliable research that empowers better management decisions has been crucial to stakeholders on the client and provider sides.”

Metzger’s achievements include key roles in the development of:

• ongoing services to understand how and why consumers use media – from TV to videogames to mobile media – in everyday life (How People Use(R) studies), and how to allocate media budgets efficiently (MultiMedia Mentor(R))
• Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Random Digit Dialing (RDD) – both breakthroughs that enabled dramatic improvements in research quality
• RADAR(R) (Radio’s All Dimension Audience Research) – the national radio network ratings service, founded in 1972 and now owned by Arbitron
• “research on research” through a series of industry-sponsored studies in the 1970s and ’80s to assess the quality of audience measurement techniques themselves
• S*M*A*R*T (Systems for Measuring And Reporting Television) – a TV ratings technology for the digital age, developed in collaboration with dozens of major TV networks, advertisers, and media agencies
• media exposure and advertising effectiveness measures in continuous major advertiser tracking studies

Metzger served as Chairman of the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) Board of Directors, and as Chairman of its Research Quality Council. He is a former president of the Market Research Council and of the Radio and Television Research Council. The Market Research Council has inducted Mr. Metzger into its Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Broadcasters gave him the Hugh Malcolm Beville award in recognition of his distinguished professional career in broadcast audience research.

In the early 1990s, Metzger helped guide an in-depth audit of the Nielsen PeopleMeter ratings system; this led to the creation of S*M*A*R*T. He also testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology concerning proposed legislation, the FAIR Ratings Act of 2005 (S.#1372).

For more information contact, David Stanton (Vice President, Marketing Communications) at (908) 497-8040 or dstanton@knowledgenetworks.com.

SOURCE Knowledge Networks