What are yall thoughts on this book. Nielsen Audio Ratings
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Buffalo Radio Ratings
- Thread starter CassChopper96
- Start date
Aside from these being the freebie broad stroke Persons 12+, the best that can be said of the numbers posted: Inconclusive.
That the Breeze has overtaken Star is of note. 97 Rock remained consistent, but as noted the recent toast debacle doesn't figure in. And once again, WYRK leads the pack.
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N/A means the station is in a continuous diary measurement market but is only subscribed to the quarterly reports.
I agree. Those diary market "monthly" reports actually cover a full 12 week period. So one week's events will not have a major effect.
That doesn't explain why some stations are listed and others are N/A. WBEN is not listed, yet other Entercom (Audacy?) stations are. Same ownership.
WBUF doesn't show up either, yet WYRK does.
Must be a Nielsen Glitch or the antiquated diary system. Maybe Nielsen can't find enough people who are willing to fill them out...
Does it absolutely, positively mean that 100 percent of the time, or is the scenario BigA lays out also possible?
The N/A thing is perplexing for the exact points BA mentioned earlier in this thread, discounting Eduardo's usually correct observations. Townsquare's WBLK and WBUF marked N/A, while WYRK and WMSX numbers are posted. Same for Audacy having money-maker WBEN marked N/A, while the rating for WWWS and perennial doormats WLKK and WWKB are posted.
Given how many mistakes Nielsen has made recently, I would say that the chances of yet another mistake is just as possible as the non-subscriber situation.
Most of the recent errors have been in the PPM system.
The diary system is not antiquated; in fact, most of us wish that we had never been pushed into the PPM system which is way too expensive.
That said there is nothing wrong with the diary system and it has the advantage of a new sample each week, thus avoiding atypical households that can severely distort the PPM.
Nielsen has far less trouble finding diarykeepers than PPM panelists. Since the PPM is a panel while the diary is a random probability system, it is very hard to keep the panel perfectly representative.
Wasn't PPM supposed to be MORE accurate?
Maybe some stations don't want the truth about actual listening.
No system will be perfect and the stations on the bottom will always blame the system, not their product...
As has been previously discussed in a few threads on this board, there are drawbacks to both methodologies. PPM panels can be precarious in their composition and number. PPM, in some studies, has show to track unintentional listening that might take place in congregant settings (e.g., a 27 year old male credited for massive AQH listening to a soft rock AC station because he works at a UPS store whose 47 year old female manager controls the station that's tuned to each day.) If a station 'loses' a panel (for example, an AC-type household panel is replaced by a News-type household panel) significant loss to the AC station household may result while the News station household in turn may benefit. Diary methodology relies on recall. Heritage stations often benefit from such. Although certain diary keepers are conscientious about the station(s) they listen to, many are not as accurate about the time spent (past tense, as in 'filling out the diary at the end of the day or end of the diary week') listening to stations. There are instances that reveal substantial rounding (up or down, mostly up.) Hard to accurately fill out a diary while driving home from work (such as the case was pre-pandemic) on the 290.
No. It was supposed to deliver results faster, supposedly a demand by ad agencies.
Most stations don't want the 60% to 70% increase in costs.
Nielsen still can't get all the PPM markets accredited by the MRC, so there is that....
No one forces any station to subscribe to Nielsen. These Radio companies can tell the ad agencies and Nielsen to screw off. The cost you just mentioned would be eliminated thereby improving the bottom line...
How is not selling to any agency account going to improve the bottom line?
I was in what is now a top 20 market years ago when, for two years, we had no ratings at all. Market total radio Billings dropped by about 50%. I got The Pulse to come in and measure 4 times a year and revenue more than doubled in less than 6 months.
Even the more sophisticated direct accounts include ratings in their buying criteria.
Would you buy a shirt without checking its size?
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Not the point. You complained that the ratings cost too much. If stations can generate the same revenue without subscribing, they are free to try...
No, I said that the PPM increased the costs by about 60% to 70% and that is a huge expense that was really not needed.
Stations that need to get agency business can't survive without ratings.
OK, but PPM is only used in the bigger markets. It's not used in Buffalo.
Doesn't Nielsen provide ratings information to the ad agencies? They would know the ratings (even for stations that don't subscribe). If their clients want Top 3 25-54, they might still buy time on a station that has that(even if that station doesn't subscribe)...
The "Revised" March Nielsen ratings are out. (All Access)- WBUF plummets from a 2.5 to a 1.3. The sound you hear is a Classic Rock Boulder sinking fast. Meanwhile, the beleaguered 97 Rock managed to stay flat (6.5 to a 6.3). Not much "New" interest in burned out formats.
WBFO is missing from the list, but Classical WNED has a 3.1. Looks like "Beethoven Rolled Over" WBUF in this round...
WBFO is missing from the list, but Classical WNED has a 3.1. Looks like "Beethoven Rolled Over" WBUF in this round...
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