March Los Angeles 6+ Ratings

[david]

* KTWV - ensconced at #4 = wow! Has now been ahead of KIIS for multiple consecutive ratings periods
* KJLH - up a half share MoM (month over month) - is this already the impact of new PD Chris Malone?
* KLOS - up 0.6 MoM - Cume approaches 2X of KFI (despite Ukraine War driving newstalk listening)
* KNX - finally sees a bit of a surge (+0.6) nearly 3 months after launching on FM (Dec. 6, 2021)
* KFI - up 0.7 - appears Ukraine War is driving upward listening impact (along with KNX)
* KOST - has lost nearly a full share since January but remains atop LA/OC for each of the last six months

https://radioinsight.com/ratings/los-angeles

 

[TheBigA]

* KTWV - ensconced at #4 = wow! Has now been ahead of KIIS for multiple consecutive ratings periods

Not only that, but KTWV has tied KIIS at #1 18-34,

 

[Ryan Williams]

Not only that, but KTWV has tied KIIS at #1 18-34,

That’s incredible, but how is it possible?!

 

[ragazzo-pazzo]

That’s incredible, but how is it possible?!

When you have an imperfect system, expect aberrations (ALWAYS)

 

[davideduardo]

* KTWV - ensconced at #4 = wow! Has now been ahead of KIIS for multiple consecutive ratings periods

But not in 25-54, where it is behind KLVE, KBIG, KOST, KRTH, KIIS and KLA

* KJLH - up a half share MoM (month over month) - is this already the impact of new PD Chris Malone?

No, they are still below the level in sales demos where they were the first 6 months of last year.

* KLOS - up 0.6 MoM - Cume approaches 2X of KFI (despite Ukraine War driving newstalk listening)

I think that the presence of new OM Haz Montana has helped them.

* KNX - finally sees a bit of a surge (+0.6) nearly 3 months after launching on FM (Dec. 6, 2021)
* KFI - up 0.7 - appears Ukraine War is driving upward listening impact (along with KNX)

KFI and KNX and KCRW are tied in 25-54 at 16th. But remember, low rated stations have a huge margin of error and with the shortage of panelists we are going through, look for lots of wobbles.

* KOST - has lost nearly a full share since January but remains atop LA/OC for each of the last six months

They always slide down after Christmas, but are in the same normal +/- 0.5 level they always have.

If you look at the individual weeks of the book, and without naming the station, one "Top" station has a range of 1.2 points in the four weeks of the March book. That means, for example, a 5 share in a book is a range of 4.4 to 5.6 in the individual months. My point is that ratings are not precise and the lower the share, the higher the margin of error.

 

[davideduardo]

That’s incredible, but how is it possible?!

KTWV has become the Urban A/C of the market, and has managed to do well in all ethnicities, too.

 

[K.M. Richards]

That means, for example, a 5 share in a book is a range of 4.4 to 5.6 in the individual months. My point is that ratings are not precise and the lower the share, the higher the margin of error.

Would everyone please re-read David's comment and then try not to go overboard with the conclusions over the 6+ numbers? And then also remember how that applies to the demographic breakouts as well?

The only true way to measure a station's performance is how well it reaches its target demographic over multiple reporting periods and how well it monetizes its performance. Trying to judge just based on the ratings is always going to be -- always has been -- subject to wobble and with the numbers getting into an ever-decreasing range wobble is rapidly making armchair quarterbacking an imprecise an irrelevant hobby.

 

[TheBigA]

Tweaking the music hasn't done much for KROQ's share (yet). But they have close to a million in cume, which makes them closer to KYSR than the share would indicate.

 

[davideduardo]

Not only that, but KTWV has tied KIIS at #1 18-34,

In a market that is over 75% ethnic and first generation immigrants, that is quite predictable.

 

[pjc1961]

Scroll down the page linked below to see the Los Angeles demo breakouts for 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49:

Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts

All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...

www.allaccess.com

 

[K.M. Richards]

Scroll down the page linked below to see the Los Angeles demo breakouts for 25-54, 18-34 + 18-49:

Just to make a point ... these are not true "demo breakouts" because Research Director, like David and anyone else with access to the actual numbers, is contractually forbidden by Nielsen to post actual in-demo ratings in public. You'll note that the only numbers quoted are the 6+ ones and everything demo-related is given as relative positions by stations to each other.

While this is interesting to read, it's still not going to answer all of the usual questions that come up here.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Would everyone please re-read David's comment and then try not to go overboard with the conclusions over the 6+ numbers? And then also remember how that applies to the demographic breakouts as well?

The only true way to measure a station's performance is how well it reaches its target demographic over multiple reporting periods and how well it monetizes its performance. Trying to judge just based on the ratings is always going to be -- always has been -- subject to wobble and with the numbers getting into an ever-decreasing range wobble is rapidly making armchair quarterbacking an imprecise an irrelevant hobby.

Just to make a point ... these are not true "demo breakouts" because Research Director, like David and anyone else with access to the actual numbers, is contractually forbidden by Nielsen to post actual in-demo ratings in public. You'll note that the only numbers quoted are the 6+ ones and everything demo-related is given as relative positions by stations to each other.

While this is interesting to read, it's still not going to answer all of the usual questions that come up here.

The name of the board is "Radio Discussions", so perhaps we can just let people discuss the numbers that are available to them if they like, stipulating that they are not the more relevant in-money demo numbers as you have reminded us on so many occasions.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm just tired of seeing people read the answers from David, BigA, et al, to their inaccurate conclusions and then, the very next time the 6+ numbers come out, make the exact same inaccurate conclusions.

Discussion is one thing. Not learning from previous discussions so that one can discuss more intelligently the next time is another.

 

[ragazzo-pazzo]

In the interest of "discussion", the one thing (ok, only thing) you can reasonably deduce from the beauty pageant numbers is a station's "relative" health. If a station is still putting up strong cume, that is much more an indicator of a station's relative health than 6+ AQH by a country mile. If share's are down but cume maintains, that's a TSL problem and one that an astute programmer will find solutions to.

As has been rightfully pointed out by others much smarter than me, trying to reach ANY conclusion to 6+ AQH results is a fools errand... and yet this "discussion" pops up regularly with every release of new data.

 

[ATSFGuy]

KRTH appears to be doing ok, despite a small drop from a 4.4 last March to a 5.6 in January, then an 5.3 in February and then a 4.9 last March.

At one point, KOST surpassed KRTH (5.8 in December and again in February).

 

[davideduardo]

In the interest of "discussion", the one thing (ok, only thing) you can reasonably deduce from the beauty pageant numbers is a station's "relative" health. If a station is still putting up strong cume, that is much more an indicator of a station's relative health than 6+ AQH by a country mile. If share's are down but cume maintains, that's a TSL problem and one that an astute programmer will find solutions to.

It is a lot more complicated than that.

First, buyers don't much look at cume, so for sales it is far less relevant.

Second, TSL can be affected by something as simple as the vacation of the morning host during a book or as hard to analyze as fewer "hit" songs in the station's genre during a certain period. Or it can be a major promotion or concert by a competitor.

As has been rightfully pointed out by others much smarter than me, trying to reach ANY conclusion to 6+ AQH results is a fools errand... and yet this "discussion" pops up regularly with every release of new data.

And add in the panelist shortage, meter shortage and lack of MRC accreditation in the PPM markets which make interpreting the ratings harder than it ever has been.

 

[davideduardo]

KRTH appears to be doing ok, despite a small drop from a 4.4 last March to a 5.6 in January, then an 5.3 in February and then a 4.9 last March.

But if you look at the individual weeks in the book, they cover a range that is 1.4 share points wide!

At one point, KOST surpassed KRTH (5.8 in December and again in February).

With significantly "better" demos all along.

 

[ragazzo-pazzo]

It is a lot more complicated than that.

First, buyers don't much look at cume, so for sales it is far less relevant.

David, I concur, and I never suggested things are "simple". Point remains, show me a station that is maintaining healthy cume and I will show you a station that LISTENERS are continuing to sample, and one whose TSL problems can be addressed - that is my point.

And FWIW, Buyers also don't look much at AQH (even in demo) either, that's a programming fixation... Since everyone seems to be discussing the "listener" pov rather than the "buyers" pov,I leaned in on the listener aspect.

 

[oldies76]

At one point, KOST surpassed KRTH (5.8 in December and again in February).

I believe KOST passed KRTH, due to heavy listenership during their annual Christmas presentations in November and December.

 

[davideduardo]

And FWIW, Buyers also don't look much at AQH (even in demo) either, that's a programming fixation...

Buyers don't look at AQH share very much if at all.

But buyers more and more are looking at AQH persons, as that allows them to compare with "persons" numbers from new media. Traditionally, they looked at AQH rating.

AQH share has not been used much by agencies in the last 3 or so decades as it is all AHQ Rating that is used as it give a relationship to the market, not just radio users.

There are 3 AQH numbers:

AQH share, the percentage of radio listeners going to a particular station.
AQH rating, the percentage of all people listening to a particular station.
AQH persons, the number of people represented by share / rating.

All three metrics are the same, just expressed in different terms.

Since everyone seems to be discussing the "listener" pov rather than the "buyers" pov,I leaned in on the listener aspect.

From that perspective, AQH persons is the most relevant metric. Since less than half the cume represents over 90% of total quarter hours of listening, about half the cume is virtually useless in developing the "persons" who are listening levels.