Editor's note: If you’re an end-client researcher and interested in participating in a Q&A with Quirk’s, please e-mail me at emilyk@quirks.com.
What is the most rewarding part of working within public television?
First, working at PBS is a truly mission-vocation for me and many of my colleagues. Several of us draw inspiration from Fred Rogers’ 1969 congressional testimony where he helped secure funds for what would become PBS at a national level. Personally, I believe in the role that public television plays in the lives of Americans, the value it brings to Americans of all walks of life and the varied and high-quality content we offer. I like to say that we are the first – and maybe only – true variety service. Where else can you find television series about the arts, drama, news, public affairs, documentary film, personal history, DIY, science and nature, in addition to our 24/7 children’s service, all in one place?
I am also lucky to work with very talented colleagues. We come from different backgrounds and areas of expertise, but the high-caliber work that we produce never ceases to impress me. I feel fortunate to work in such a collaborative environment.
Finally, given the recent challenges and disruptions caused by COVID-19, I was amazed at how quickly teams at PBS responded and were able to provide content to the American public. Our PBS KIDS team developed a daily newsletter that provides parents and caregivers with different learning activities to keep children engaged while they are out of school. We were also able, thanks to a little nudge from documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, to offer his 1994 film, “Baseball,” for free streaming across all of our platforms. This type of quick-acting teamwork embodies a lot about what makes PBSers great.
Talk about some of the challenges you’ve been presented with when conducting research studies on a budget.
Yes, it’s true, we don’t have a large research budget. In fact, our research funds vary from year to year based on programming priorities. This means we typically try to be creative about how we do projects in order to maximize the project budget.
Fortunately, we do have our own proprietary insights community, affectionately known as our Viewer Panel. This group of 9,500 loyal PBS consumers across all of our platforms is a great resource that allows us to conduct dozens of research studies across a year at a fraction of the cost compared to if we fielded each one individually on its own by paying for sample, screening for PBS consumption, etc. The types of projects we do range from general concept tests to title tests for new series, hosts tests, creative tests, online discussions and more.
For outside projects, and the cadence for when we partner with a vendor is unpredictable, sometimes we face the prospect of scope creep – meaning the requirements for a project cost more than what our internal partners expect or have available in their budget. But I will say that our outside research partners are very flexible and work with us to find a workable project cost.
Are there any new methodologies or technologies you would like to explore in the next year and why?
I would love to do more qualitative work in the coming year to be able to get deeper insights about some of our most pressing questions. We mostly do quant surveys because they are quick – and truthfully it is the tool that we have at our disposal that offers the fastest turnaround. I’d also be interested in potentially exploring the use of eye-tracking when we do creative tests with video. The technological capabilities evolving in the market research space are really impressive and is one of the reasons I’m optimistic that we will continue to be able to deliver actionable insights in the coming years.