RTÉ plans to invest an approximated €1.8 million, not including VAT, across a five-year period into creating an ‘Online Audience Feedback Panel’. This service will facilitate RTÉ’s ongoing comprehension of Irish viewer and listener responses to its programming on both traditional and emerging media.
The official tender documentation published last Thursday indicates that the feedback panel will be representative of the country’s demographic makeup in aspects such as age, gender, geographical region, and socioeconomic class. It will provide daily insights into audience responses to television and other AudioVisual (AV) content.
The winner of the tender will pledge to supply weekly reports detailing audience responses to radio and other auditory content, as well as user interaction data from related digital platforms.
The methodology designed for the Audience Feedback Panel must grant panelists the capability to provide answers to various forms of questions—structured, semi-structured and open-ended. These questions will revolve around topics RTÉ deems significant.
The documentation further states that this is a contract renewal for services previously bought by other tender procedures. The total approximate cost over the five-year span averages to €360,000 per annum for RTÉ.
The station is currently welcoming preliminary interest expressions. A formal tender invitation with comprehensive information will be dispatched for those shortlisted. Candidates interested in this opportunity must submit specific details to assist RTÉ with completing a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). The top five candidates will be shortlisted at RTÉ’s discretion and invited to tender.
The shortlisted candidates will receive intsimation on October 18th, giving them time to submit their tenders by the 15th of November. The contract’s award rundown will be communicated by December 12th, and the Feedback Panel is intended to be fully operational by June 1st, with the caveat that the given dates could fluctuate depending on the progression of RTÉ’s internal administrative processes.
The 2023 annual report of RTÉ reveals a shortfall of €9.1 million, a phase that chairman Terence O’Rourke characterised as challenging and detrimental for the Irish public service broadcaster. The document indicates a reduction of €17.3 million in the licence fee income for RTÉ compared to 2022. To counterbalance some of the decrease in the license fee, RTÉ introduced a recruitment hold and postponed several strategic initiatives. However, despite these measures, the 2023 deficit of €9.1 million remains, as disclosed in the report.