If you think this diary system is a reliable and good one, your just not living in reality. I see every one of the diary comments that mention WECK, and also the stations they give quarter hours to.. some people will write down that certain stations are all they listen to, but they give those stations zero quarter hours. How is that normal? Others write down stations that don’t exist, and it’s not just the physically or mentally challenged.
You are dealing with humans. Ever sit in on a focus group? It will make you think you are Einstein, but at the same time wonder how anything gets done "out there in the real world".
I have actually begun to not give a crap about the ratings either way, because it’s a joke. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Even I find it hard to believe that WECK beat STAR 12 plus. How is that possible?
Maybe, just maybe, your station is both good and memorable. Some stations that are not memorable but well done do poorly in the diary.
Also, if listening is not going down, or atleast fragmented severely, why are mainly all stations share now 3-5 share? This weighting thing is a joke. On this thread, a few posts ago, I listed the quarter hours for Oct by station. When the ratings come out this week, they will look nothing like that. I realize I am not averaging the three months, but even if I did, after the voodoo math, the actual ratings are totally different.
Share is the percentage of radio listeners who listen to each station. They always add up to 100. In the 60's we had lots of double digit share stations. Now, we have very few and lots of 4s, 5s and 6s. The pie is cut into more pieces because there are more stations. Thank FM, Docket 80-90 and translators as well as HD-2, HD-3 and streams. All are counted, all fragment the audience.
You give way to much credit to a system that derives its answers not by , who they are listening too, but what they remember. I have said this before. I could promote right now a station that does now even exist , and it would get ratings. How is that indicative of what people are really listening too?
That is neither radio's nor Nielsen's problem. Some people are imprecise or don't care much. Some are stupid, some are distracted. But the overall result is very accurate... enough so that ad buyers trust the ratings for billions in ad buys.
I see comments all the time in the diaries that says ‘we don’t listen to radio, we like Sirius “ then they write in random stations and give them quarter hours when they just got done saying they don’t listen to radio.
That is normal for people. They are paying for Sirius/XM, so they justify the expense. But they hear radio at home or at work and write it down.
You have your belief, I have mine. Win or lose, ratings go up and down. Focus on client results. I should have pulled out when I had the chance. Now I’m stuck with this ratings charade for 2 more years.
That works in smaller markets and with specific accounts. That's why the smallest markets come and go on the Nielsen list. Local accounts measure results. But the clients often buy by personal likes and dislikes and lose lots of sales. The best is to have both numbers and service to get the buy and then get the client the sales they want.
In the past 2 ratings trends, WECK had been mid 4 shares. I could care less, because I don’t even believe it. A few days ago KISS had a 3 share. I don’t believe that either
All stats have a margin of error. But I'd rather hit within the target than the trunk of the tree behind it.
WBEN, a station I love, which I happen to believe is the best news talk in the country, is plummeting. How is this possible, when three months ago the ratings showed an entirely different thing?
News/Talk stations wobble like nothing else, because they don't control the news and the state of mind of consumers. Watch how the wild inflation and the possible shortages of goods this season affect talk stations in affected markets.
You have your view, I have mine. The radio diary ratings are bunk.
There are, as the books says on the cover, "estimates". I've said before that I was in a Top 20 market that did not have ratings for two years. Billing fell by 50% as clients said, "take it or leave it" and agencies said "no CPM, this is what we can pay".
