The South African Adverting Research Foundation (SAARF) reports an important change in the AMPS (All Media & Products Survey) currency – it will now include the 15+ age group. Therefore a sample of approximately 580 15-year olds will become part of the new adult AMPS database, equating to a population of 975,000 in the AMPS universe.
Says SAARF CEO Paul Haupt: “The release of AMPS 2009AB on 31 March 2010 is in a sense a historical release as for the first time since its inception in 1975 the definition of the adult universe will change. Up to now adults were defined as all people 16 years and older but from this release this definition will change to 15 years and older.
“The move to 15+ was widely consulted in the run-up to the AMPS and RAMS tender more than two years ago. As far as we can establish, the original decision 35 years ago to go for 16+ was based on the labour laws at that time which prohibited people younger than 16 from working. This was a bit arbitrary and is certainly not in line with most other countries today where 15+ seems to be the generally accepted definition for adults.
“Stats South Africa, which conducts the national census (ie. the basis of all quantitative research in the country) has also been using 15+ as the cut-off for quite a while. Furthermore, from a marketing perspective, teens are growing up much faster than 40 years ago and have a much greater influence on purchasing decisions in their homes.’
Thus, 15+ was written into the AMPS and RAMS (Radio Listening) tender. As Haupt points out, while this will potentially increase the adult reach of all traditional media measured on AMPS, the effect on the penetration is negligible.
