Corinne Hügli (*1980) studied Communication Science and Media Research at the University of Zurich. She holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Business Information Technology and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Applied Statistics. After working briefly in the field of media audience measurement, since 2009 she has been working in official statistics. In 2016 she started her PhD project on the history of audience measurement of electronic media in Switzerland on a part-time basis.

Audience measurement data are used by the media industry for adequate program planning and are the "currency" in the advertising market. The distribution of the advertising budget is mainly based on media currencies. According to the Stiftung Werbestatistik Schweiz (Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation), net advertising sales in the electronic media sector in Switzerland amount to around CHF 1.5 billion a year.

The advancing media convergence as well as the increased decoupling of advertising from media content poses major challenges for established audience measurement systems, which have so far been strongly oriented by media type. In Switzerland work has already been underway for several years to establish a convergent media currency for digital content.

The research project aims at documenting the history of audience measurement systems for electronic media such as radio, television and online media in Switzerland starting in the 1960s with the first standardized, continuous measurement instruments. The motives for the introduction, further development or discontinuation of measurement methods and the stakeholders involved in the process will be examined.

A closer look at the history of audience measurement systems will provide explanations as to why certain research constellations worked and others didn’t succeed and which influencing factors played a decisive role. For this purpose, extensive archival documents will be studied and expert interviews will be conducted.

Scientific supervision of the dissertation project by Prof. em. Dr. Klaus Neumann-Braun as well as Prof. Dr. Lukas Rosenthaler, University of Basel