June 2020 PPM 6+ Mon-Sun, 6a-12mid Ratings

[DMK]

https://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb039

 

[TheBigA]

What's going on at The Bull?

 

[bobdavcav]

Better question is what's with the market in general? In May, I thought we were beginning to return to a more normal-looking book, and I expected those trends to continue into June. What we got was unusual. If I didn't live here, I would have thought the governor ordered everything closed again.

 

[Kelly A]

Better question is what's with the market in general?

Maybe you haven't seen the news in six months. There is a on-going Covid pandemic that has turned peoples lives on their heads. 65% of the population is either working from home, unemployed, or furloughed.

 

[crainbebo]

I doubt KING-FM will ever see ratings like that again, once life returns to 2019-like normal.
KTTH and KEXP beating KUBE/KBKS. Will iHeart ever feel remorse? And a big drop for 92.5 as well.

 

[davideduardo]

Better question is what's with the market in general? In May, I thought we were beginning to return to a more normal-looking book, and I expected those trends to continue into June. .

While Nielsen stresses that radio's collective cume is nearly back to normal, it is important to know that advertisers do not buy based on cume.

They buy based on AQH persons. Not share.

And in an average of the AQH persons in the PPMs released for June, the market listening level in the "buy" demos is still around 30% lower than the pre-pandemic average of January and February.

Yes, it is better in June than April (the first full month affected by the Coronavirus). But it is nowhere near "normal". And, of course, we may find that "normal" has a new definition whenever normalcy is reestablished.

And, of course, all the public release numbers are share, not rating. They significantly misrepresent reality as you can't compare the results when the denominator is different in the equation.

 

[davideduardo]

I doubt KING-FM will ever see ratings like that again, once life returns to 2019-like normal.

Those number are not "ratings". They are "shares". When fewer people overall are listening, you can actually have fewer listeners and get a higher share if your listenership just didn't drop as severely as other stations levels did.

Rating is the percentage of all people in a study group (such as 18-49 or 25-54) who are listening to a station. This included people who have their radio on and those who don't.

Share is the percentage of radio listeners who are listening to a station.

In today's radio and in "normal" times the share is about 11 to 12 times as large a number as the rating. So a rating of 0.3 would be a share of around 3.6, give or take. But, since share is a percentage of radio users, it is entirely dependent on how many people are actually using radio in the period under review.

 

[medev]

I doubt KING-FM will ever see ratings like that again, once life returns to 2019-like normal.
KTTH and KEXP beating KUBE/KBKS. Will iHeart ever feel remorse? And a big drop for 92.5 as well.

Time to blow up Kiss FM. iHeart media made a bad decision when they blew up Kube. It's never been the same since Kube came back. Eric Powers has been doing great things to Hot 103.7.

 

[davideduardo]

Time to blow up Kiss FM. iHeart media made a bad decision when they blew up Kube. It's never been the same since Kube came back. Eric Powers has been doing great things to Hot 103.7.

Again, there are going to be no evaluations or format changes based on ratings for the period beginning in March and including every monthly book until audience levels return to normal. In June, in the average PPM market listening levels are still 30% below the total market listening levels from pre-virus months.

 

[TheBigA]

Again, there are going to be no evaluations or format changes based on ratings

I suggest that ratings are not the basis of format changes, regardless of circumstance. Decisions are based on revenue, not ratings.

Kiss has made an effort to cut its payroll over the last few years, to get its costs in line with its revenues.

 

[davideduardo]

I suggest that ratings are not the basis of format changes, regardless of circumstance. Decisions are based on revenue, not ratings.

But, unless the ratings show quantifiable audience in the ages a client desires, there is no revenue. Format changes are based on a decision to go after a salable demographic where potential for results that will be attractive to advertisers are achievable.

Once a station enters the field against a desirable demo, revenue will be based not on presence in that arena but the number of listeners the format delivers.

I learned with my first competitive market station that it is a heck of a lot easier to sell if you have good ratings. I knew I wasn't a very good seller, so I had to lead the market and become an obligatory buy.

 

[TheBigA]

But, unless the ratings show quantifiable audience in the ages a client desires, there is no revenue.

Two questions:

Can they get revenue from Kiss resources in other ways besides :30 spots? Prior to COVID, yes.

What other commercial format choices do they have? Not many. The formats they'd love to have in Seattle are all well covered.

 

[DMK]

Here's the demo breakdown. Interesting results in the 25-54; a charging bull.


https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...rch-director-inc-exclusive-june-ppm-analysis-

 

[bobdavcav]

While Nielsen stresses that radio's collective cume is nearly back to normal, it is important to know that advertisers do not buy based on cume.

They buy based on AQH persons. Not share.

And in an average of the AQH persons in the PPMs released for June, the market listening level in the "buy" demos is still around 30% lower than the pre-pandemic average of January and February.

Yes, it is better in June than April (the first full month affected by the Coronavirus). But it is nowhere near "normal". And, of course, we may find that "normal" has a new definition whenever normalcy is reestablished.

And, of course, all the public release numbers are share, not rating. They significantly misrepresent reality as you can't compare the results when the denominator is different in the equation.

I completely understand this, which is why I was surprised by this book. I'm assuming that total listenership was down more in May than it was in June? That assumption is based purely on current happenings. It's also why I was surprised to see KING-FM so high, as well as KEXP setting a new station record.
I am also curious about listening levels in other markets. Are listening levels higher in a market such as Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta, where reopening is happening a lot faster than here?

 

[TheBigA]

I was surprised to see KING-FM so high, as well as KEXP setting a new station record.

KING and KEXP are so high because the others are so low. KING and KEXP listeners are staying relatively consistent, while other stations have dropped.

Same with KNUC. Listenership has almost completely returned to pre-COVID levels, while the wolf is still down over 150K.

 

[Kelly A]

KING and KEXP are so high because the others are so low. KING and KEXP listeners are staying relatively consistent, while other stations have dropped.

Same with KNUC. Listenership has almost completely returned to pre-COVID levels, while the wolf is still down over 150K.

And, when people listen have changed. 75+% of drive time listening simply vanished starting in mid-March. Last I recall, that's about 35% of the typical audience. Some of the in-vehicle has returned as cities "re-open", but not the same times nor numbers as pre-virus.

For those who are confused over recent ratings results, David posted a good reminder from Nielsen here: https://www.radiodiscussions.com/sh...-Us-Again-about-Using-Coronavirus-Era-Ratings

 

[DMK]

Maybe it was always there, but a lot of stations are plugging accessing them via there smart speaker. That may or may not be affecting the ratings as a larger percentage who was listening in their car is now telecommuting. Personally, I've been telecommuting since March and started listening to KIRO AM on my boombox, but switched to IHEART (streaming American Top 40 of the 70s and 80s), as I got tired of the same four sports stories being covered.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe it was always there, but a lot of stations are plugging accessing them via there smart speaker. That may or may not be affecting the ratings as a larger percentage who was listening in their car is now telecommuting.

If people are listening to encoded AM or FM stations on smart speakers or iHeart, it will count in the ratings as a stream.

 

[iamarussianpirate]

KING and KEXP are so high because the others are so low. KING and KEXP listeners are staying relatively consistent, while other stations have dropped.

Same with KNUC. Listenership has almost completely returned to pre-COVID levels, while the wolf is still down over 150K.

KNUC's June cume was 71% of their pre-covid 14 month average. KKWF was at 70% in June. The market average is about 69% from June, so KNUC is just barely above average in regaining cume. Not sure where you're getting your numbers, but thems the facts.

 

[davideduardo]

If people are listening to encoded AM or FM stations on smart speakers or iHeart, it will count in the ratings as a stream.

The stream is encoded separately, though.