The Skinny on Microsoft Video Pulse
Image courtesy of WinBeta.
Lenny Murphy’s recent GreenBook article on Microsoft’s entry into the moment-to-moment data collection game, via their Video Pulse product, is a good read and I admit it’s cool technology. As Dialsmith’s founder and CEO, and someone who’s worked to evolve and refine moment-to-moment tools and methods for more than 15 years, it’s exciting to see further innovation around, and new attention being paid, to this methodology.
That being the case, and with Microsoft throwing their hat in the ring, there’s a tendency to lump all these “Pulse-like” tools together—much like Google Consumer Surveys was lumped in with pretty much every other data collection platform. There’s certainly some overlap between Video Pulse and the dial testing we evangelize at Dialsmith, but for those looking to conduct rigorous media research, some of the differences are significant and should be noted.
As a starting point, Video Pulse is open to the public and allows for polling every five seconds or longer. On the upside, Video Pulse’s open nature makes moment-to-moment polling available to the masses at very little cost (and, for now at least, at no cost). But where Video Pulse is not as good a fit, and in contrast to tools like Perception Analyzer Online, is when the research being conducted has stricter requirements such as the need for controlled sample and more frequent and continuous data collection intervals. Video Pulse can also only be used with other Microsoft tools whereas our Perception Analyzer Online technology and other moment-to-moment tools, are moving toward seamless integration with an expanding group of survey platforms and other online research services.
This is all good news for the market research community, as a broadened range of moment-to-moment tools leads to more options and flexibility in approach and methodology, and welcomed news for us here at Dialsmith who’ve been preaching the value of moment-to-moment based methods for years. Speaking of which, we’ve recently teamed up with experts from the market research and academic communities to uncover the negative impact of flawed recall and memory bias on market research and we’ll be hosting an all-star panel on this topic at IIeX North America on June 13. Hope you can join us.
