[Commlist] Vacancy: PhD Studentship in Media Audience Measurement: Methods, Institutions, and Power

*PhD Studentship in Media Audience Measurement: Methods, Institutions, 
and Power*
*
*
3 years (initial contract), starting 1st October 2026. Annual gross 
salary of between 44,493 and 63,239 Euros, depending on qualifications 
and experience. Application deadline: 15th July.

https://job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/bc6a8769c81b40692c353e8eeab443df8680d1fe0?ref=homepage 
<https://job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/bc6a8769c81b40692c353e8eeab443df8680d1fe0?ref=homepage>

The Department of Media and Communication at the 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is one of the largest and 
highest-ranked communication science departments in Germany. The 
Department invites applications for a PhD candidate to work with 
Professor Neil Thurman and his team.

This PhD position focuses on media audience measurement, understood as 
the ongoing, industrialised measurement of media audiences that produces 
television ratings, newspaper and magazine readership and circulation 
figures, and estimates of websites’ and apps’ unique users and related 
metrics.

The candidate will investigate audience measurement as a central 
infrastructure of modern media systems: a set of practices through which 
audiences are counted, valued, represented, and made actionable for 
commercial, regulatory, and research purposes.

The topic can be approached from a range of perspectives, including the 
economics and organisation of the audience measurement industry; its 
historical development across the twentieth century; its changing forms 
in the twenty-first century; and the methodological challenges of 
measuring audiences across multiple platforms, devices, and services.

The candidate may also explore critical debates surrounding audience 
commodification, surveillance, transparency, and advertising fraud, as 
well as the disruption created by streaming services, social media 
platforms, and other digital intermediaries.

The focus is intentionally broad, allowing the successful applicant to 
develop an original research project on how audience data are produced, 
governed, contested, and used in practice by media companies, 
advertisers, policymakers, and researchers.

*Tasks and responsibilities:*

  * Conduct independent and collaborative research on the
    above-mentioned topic, including as part of the preparation of a
    doctoral thesis (either a monograph or a cumulative dissertation)
  * Contribute to the development of new research projects (external
    funding/grant proposals)
  * Teach approximately 2.8 contact hours per week per semester (3.75
    SWS). One teaching hour (SWS) equates to 45 minutes of contact time
  * Contribute to other teaching and administrative activities

*Qualifications:*

  * Applicants must hold a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline —
    such as media and communication, sociology, history, economics,
    management, law, or public policy — and should have a strong
    academic interest in audience research, media industries, media
    history, media policy and regulation, media economics, or related
    work on quantification, platforms, and metrics
  * Strong interest in the above mentioned research topic
  * Fluency in English (written and oral)
  * Working knowledge of German is an advantage

*Benefits:*

  * A funded (75%) PhD position (initially for three years) on the TV-L
    E13 salary scale
  * Annual gross salary of between 44,493 and 63,239 Euros, depending on
    qualifications and experience
  * A pleasant, collegial work environment in one of Germany’s largest
    and highest-ranked media and communication departments
  * A workplace in LMU’s Department of Media and Communications, which
    occupies a centrally-located building on the edge of Munich’s
    English Garden park. Munich is an attractive and vibrant city close
    to the Alps
  * Close supervision within a collaborative and supportive research
    environment
  * The opportunity to pursue a Ph.D
  * Flexible, family-friendly working model (e. g. Some remote work is
    possible).
  * People with disabilities who are equally as qualified as other
    applicants will receive preferential treatment.

*How to apply:*

Applications should be sent as soon as possible to Prof. Dr. Neil 
Thurman at <(neil.thurman /at/ ifkw.lmu.de) <mailto:(neil.thurman /at/ ifkw.lmu.de)>>, 
and at the latest by 15th July 2026.

The following materials (in English only) should be included, as a 
single PDF:

  * Covering letter describing your suitability for the position.
  * CV including publications (if any).
  * Academic transcripts and certificates.
  * Contact details of two referees.
  * Examples (if any) of academic writing in English (publication(s), BA
    and/or MA theses).

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