Background
TAPE started out within a U.K. Advertising Agency (then known as Masius Wynne Williams) back in the late 1960’s.
TAPE’s founder, Mike Firman, was a media buyer looking for ways to gain a competitive edge for his clients. He set out to develop a methodology for accurately predicting the audience potential of films and series on TV before they aired. By utilising the resources available to him at the agency, Mike and his colleagues set themselves the task of developing just such a tool.
The end result was the Factor Analysis System which continues to provide the underpinnings of all of TAPE’s services today. See Evaluation Services
Break-away
The system was originally utilised in-house by the agency, but following an overture initially from LWT (London Weekend Television) in the UK, and a broadcaster from Perth in Western Australia (both of whom had heard of the emerging forecasting system and were interested in applying it to programme acquisition and development), the decision was taken to break away from the agency and set up as an independent company (in 1976), in order to be better able to service clients from the broadcasting and production communities.
This decision was made easier by a successful test with a major U.S. network (following a lengthy study of U.S. ratings data), which gave TAPE its credentials in the U.S. market, and led to the adaptation of the TAPE system for North America (Canada and the U.S.).
Recent developments
Over the last two decades, TAPE has continued to expand into other markets, working in a wide range of diverse territories including Scandinavia, South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Chile, and most recently, Japan. We are also currently exploring opportunities in China.
Meanwhile TAPE is actively involved in joint ventures with other partners (see Partners) and the ongoing development and refinement of TAPE’s proprietary systems and research and reporting tools continues to this day.
