Rajar’s CEO Jerry Hill told Research: “We have designed and built an online interface which allows the respondent to input their radio listening data online as opposed to through the diary.

“The information we’re collecting isn’t different, but there’ll be certain people put off now by the paper diary. So hopefully there will be an improvement in the representativeness of the data.”

The design is being tested with 5,000 panellists by Ipsos, which conducts the Rajar survey, with a focus on user experience and compliance. Results are expected early next year, and if it goes well the online component of the survey could get the green light in the first quarter, Hill said.

Rajar is “working on the assumption” that the survey will end up being 50/50 online and offline, and that there is “no intention” to move it online completely, said Hill.

The organisation is also working with Ipsos on tests of a mobile phone-based audience measurement system which uses the handset’s microphone to capture radio broadcasts.