September PPM ratings

[K.M. Richards]

Before you all go nuts discussing the "vanity" 6+ numbers, here the rankings for the three key demographics from Research Director.

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, September 2024, Part I | Research Director, Inc.

Do you remember the survey we call SEPTEMBER? Well, since this is the first round of releases, we’re talking about an extremely short memory as thi

researchdirectorinc.com

 

[vw86]

I notice (and this is all markets) that iHeart doesn't separate the stream the way the other big companies (Audacy, Cumulus, Cox, etc.) do. I'm sure it's all in the breakdown, but it does make the iHeart station 6+ share look higher at quick glance than if they separated it out like everyone else.

 

[davideduardo]

I notice (and this is all markets) that iHeart doesn't separate the stream the way the other big companies (Audacy, Cumulus, Cox, etc.) do. I'm sure it's all in the breakdown, but it does make the iHeart station 6+ share look higher at quick glance than if they separated it out like everyone else.

Nielsen has a rule here. If a stream is 100% simulcast (with tiny monthly exceptions) it can be combined with the over-the-air station(s). If the stream has separate ads in the stopsets, it can not be combined and must be separately listed.

 

[vw86]

I know iHeart runs separate content during ad breaks on their streams but I can't think of a time when I've seen an iHeart station stream have a separate line on the 6+ monthly numbers that get released to the public.

 

[davideduardo]

I know iHeart runs separate content during ad breaks on their streams but I can't think of a time when I've seen an iHeart station stream have a separate line on the 6+ monthly numbers that get released to the public.

First question: Huff, where are you?
Second question: do those stations have measurable listening?
Third question: Are local streams are identical with the on-air audio? If they are, they are combined if the station decides for "single line reporting" (which almost every operator does).

 

[Gregg.]

I know I've said this before but the demographic ratings are all mixed up. What's the #1 station in the 18-34 demo? It's WLTW, iHeart's oldest-skewing FM station. What's #1 in the 25-54 demo? It's WHTZ, iHeart's youngest-skewing station.

The youth demo listens to mature music and the middle-aged demo listens to contemporary music?

When I first started reading trade publications, I remember how different the demos were. The 25-54 demo was dominated by AM News and Talk stations and FM Easy Listening outlets. The 18-34 demo was dominated by Top 40, Rock and Urban stations. Hardly any station was popular across the board.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

The youth demo listens to mature music and the middle-aged demo listens to contemporary music?

When they choose to listen to the radio, yes.

This is a pretty consistent finding across the PPM markets. Totaling all the PPM markets, AC is the #1 music format for ages 18+, 18-34, 25-54, and 35+ according to Nielsen's "The Record" publication from this summer.

Hardly any station was popular across the board.

Is there evidence that musical tastes have homogenized? Is today's 21 year old happy to hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" followed by "My Heart Will Go On" (a pairing which aired on WLTW this evening)? Or is something else to blame?

 

[nowradioguy]

First question: Huff, where are you?
Second question: do those stations have measurable listening?
Third question: Are local streams are identical with the on-air audio? If they are, they are combined if the station decides for "single line reporting" (which almost every operator does).

When I stream iHeart's WBZ here in the Boston area, the stream ads that go out over the air are what I hear.

However, when I was in Saratoga Springs this summer, I streamed iHeart's WGY on my smartphone, and got ads for businesses back in the Boston area, obviously not the local Albany-Troy-Schenectady area.

My point: it would appear iHeart streaming ad content differs depending upon whether the station is streaming to its "home base listeners", or to "out-of-towners".

Does this seem reasonable?

 

[Larry]

My point: it would appear iHeart streaming ad content differs depending upon whether the station is streaming to its "home base listeners", or to "out-of-towners".

My hunch is that happens everywhere. But when I listen to a local Audacy station while at home the commercials are often different than the over the air commercials

 

[vw86]

I subscribe to iHeart plus for 5.99 a month and every time a stopset hits I get format appropriate fill songs no matter if I'm listening to something from my home market or on the other side of the country

 

[Huff]

First question: Huff, where are you?
Second question: do those stations have measurable listening?
Third question: Are local streams are identical with the on-air audio? If they are, they are combined if the station decides for "single line reporting" (which almost every operator does).

No iHeart streams have shown up because they are all listed for Total Line Reporting:

 

[henry]

Maybe they make a case like: IF the IP address for the listener is inside the NYC market area, the app *must* play the OTA spots — but for anyone outside the market area, it can insert different ones?

 

[Radiopaw]

Maybe they make a case like: IF the IP address for the listener is inside the NYC market area, the app *must* play the OTA spots — but for anyone outside the market area, it can insert different ones?

Extremely easy code.. like first or second college class.

 

[Ian March]

When they choose to listen to the radio, yes.

This is a pretty consistent finding across the PPM markets. Totaling all the PPM markets, AC is the #1 music format for ages 18+, 18-34, 25-54, and 35+ according to Nielsen's "The Record" publication from this summer.



Is there evidence that musical tastes have homogenized? Is today's 21 year old happy to hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" followed by "My Heart Will Go On" (a pairing which aired on WLTW this evening)? Or is something else to blame?

18-34's aren't listening to and liking it; they're exposed to it, or at least meters attached to their names are.

 

[davideduardo]

18-34's aren't listening to and liking it; they're exposed to it, or at least meters attached to their names are.

That is a common misconception. Share/Rating numbers are based on time spent listening. Some younger people who "hear" because they are near another, older, person's radio does not generate enough quarter hours of listening to really change station shares.

While it varies by format, the general rule is that well over 80% of all time spent listening is generated by just 50% of the meter holders.

People hearing a radio station while at the car repair place or a doctor's office really don't move the needle.

 

[TheBigA]

18-34's aren't listening to and liking it; they're exposed to it, or at least meters attached to their names are.

Yet when we look at the music people in that age group stream, a lot of it is 90s music.

One reason why CHRs are playing older music is that their target demo likes music from the 90s.

 

[Gregg.]

When I stream iHeart's WBZ here in the Boston area, the stream ads that go out over the air are what I hear.

When I was in Saratoga Springs this summer, I streamed iHeart's WGY on my smartphone, and got ads for businesses back in the Boston area, obviously not the local Albany-Troy-Schenectady area.

My point: it would appear iHeart streaming ad content differs depending upon whether the station is streaming to its "home base listeners", or to "out-of-towners".

Does this seem reasonable?

I don't think it's a "Home Base" vs. "Out of Towners" thing. I think you simply hear the commercials for the market where you are listening, regardless of what you are listening to. But this is only if the station is streaming on the iHeart or Audacy apps. If you tune in some station that streams from its own website or app, you'll often hear that market's commercials, not your own.

Now, why you were hearing Boston ads when you were physically in Saratoga Springs, part of the Albany market, is puzzling to me. The iHeart app should have known where you were.

 

[nowradioguy]

I don't think it's a "Home Base" vs. "Out of Towners" thing. I think you simply hear the commercials for the market where you are listening, regardless of what you are listening to. But this is only if the station is streaming on the iHeart or Audacy apps. If you tune in some station that streams from its own website or app, you'll often hear that market's commercials, not your own.

Now, why you were hearing Boston ads when you were physically in Saratoga Springs, part of the Albany market, is puzzling to me. The iHeart app should have known where you were.

I actually would prefer to hear ads for the market in which the station is located, if for nothing else than to get an idea of the socio-political-economic makeup of that market.

When I was streaming the last few days of WCBS 880 on Audacy while here in the Boston area, I was getting ads for Boston, not the Tri-State area.

Of course, WBZ or WGY or WCBS cannot stream from "their own" website or app.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Third question: Are local streams are identical with the on-air audio? If they are, they are combined if the station decides for "single line reporting" (which almost every operator does).

Since this discussion is about the New York PPMs and I live in the market, I can tell you that the iHeart streams contain inserted ads that are different from the OTA ads on the local NYC stations.

 

[Ian March]

That is a common misconception. Share/Rating numbers are based on time spent listening. Some younger people who "hear" because they are near another, older, person's radio does not generate enough quarter hours of listening to really change station shares.

While it varies by format, the general rule is that well over 80% of all time spent listening is generated by just 50% of the meter holders.

People hearing a radio station while at the car repair place or a doctor's office really don't move the needle.

Referring to longer exposure, such as AC being on in a workplace or family common area/vehicle. Very little of AC listening in that demo is voluntary