One of the better threads on the entire Radio Discussions site. Very much interested in the research that pointed to a difference between spot cluster placement in PPM markets and Diary markets.
The research I know of best is proprietary, and done when the PPM was being tested in Houston for several years before the metered measurements went live. At the time, I was running SIP, the in-house research division of HBC (and, later, UVN) and we discovered a number of elements that separated both ratings and programming between the two systems which ran parallel for several years.
One example is that morning shows that did bits that transcended more than one quarter hour did less well in the PPM. Perceptual research showed that listeners, indeed, spent less time with a station than seemed to be true in the diary system. So a long bit would either find listeners tuning in half-way through, unable to catch up, or they would get to work or get back from dropping off the kids and, also, unable to hear the whole bit.
It is funny ("funny" peculiar, not "funny" ha ha) that we saw this in the pre-diary days when Doctor Don on KFRC or Robert W. on KHJ did few if any bits that were not "instantly gratifying". The PPM pointed out that such practices worked best. And, of course, some pointed to Stern as an example of long bits... but Stern got long TSL and very limited cume.
In the comparisons with diary and PPM, including many treks to Columbia to look at diaries, we saw that the PPM gave more chances to tune out if a station stopped down more times an hour. Because we saw that the average PPM listening span was on the average around 15 minutes, and the PPM allowed non-consecutive minutes in a quarter hour to be counted, fewer stops were better. After all, few users spent long continuous times listening.
After discussing some findings with Arbitron folks, I was at a client conference once the PPM went "live". They used an example of a well performing station that had, in a particular day, over 25 quarter hours of listening. Nearly none of those was consecutive, though. The Arbitron presenter theorized that the person listened a bit in the kitchen over coffee. Then a bit in the car. Then when they got to work; there they had interruptions like phone calls, meetings, bathroom and coffee breaks, trips to the copy machine or warehouse... or comparable interruptions if the metered person was a delivery driver, an auto mechanic or whatever.
The amusing thing was that the station used as an example was one I created the formatics and structure for, KBRG in San Francisco!
The effectiveness of other tactics, such as how contests should develop same-day return listening as well as horizontal daily cuming, can't be proven. But stations that focused on the PPM findings did better.
BTW, did you mean "7, 22, 37 and 49" rather than "42?"
Yep, one of my too-manty-to-count typos.
A few years ago Q-107 Toronto went to limited length spot breaks, but more breaks per hour in order to reduce the length of the commercial breaks. Apparently they modified that approach after a year because it didn't yield the hoped for results, although I believe at last listen, it sounds as if Q-107 now posts three moderately stocked breaks per hour rather than two fully stocked breaks. [Correct the observation if it's incorrect.] Toronto is a highly competitive PPM market with government administered audience measurement.
The government does not administer the ratings... the old BBM, now Numeris, is broadcaster owned. They use the PPM in larger markets, and like the US, the diary in smaller ones.
They employ the same technology but have their own recruitment system and administration that is not from Nielsen. One very important thing they do that Nielsen does not do is to have a "minor league" team of metered households. These are folks with meters who go through all the step but are not "in-tab" for the real ratings. They are trained, and ready if another household drops out or ends their eligibility and enter instantly, keeping the sample highly proportional and representative always.
Numeris brings clarity and understanding of Canadians’ audience behaviours to an evolving cross-media landscape with their measurement solutions.
en.numeris.ca
) commercial things came on, I'd "sample" (so-to-speak) the new guys. I found that the music was similar enough... and - importantly - I found that the pattern of their programming was more to my liking. From some others that I know who have "switched", I think the path was roughly the same. Now, had the breaks been shorter, I probably would not have "sampled" as much (if at all)... and probably would not have found the new guys to be quite as preferable (to me).