Arbitron to Include PubRadio in Ratings

[fred flintstone]

All Access:

Effective with the release of the fall 2006 survey, public and noncommercial radio stations will be eligible for reporting in ARBITRON's local market ratings reports. The company says these stations will need to meet the same minimum reporting standards that currently are applied to commercial radio stations.

Arbitron 12+ share and cume numbers for non-commercial stations are currently published online at RRC Online.

 

[Chuck]

For non-coms, the "top line" 12+ ratings don't always tell the whole story. You sometimes need to dig a bit further than that.

I've always wondered why they were left out of the regular book. I'd think a commercial broadcaster would want to know if they are getting their ass kicked by a non com. In my area, some noncommercial stations have very respectable numbers, often beating many of their commercial counterparts.

I've always suspected thatthis may be a case of the "Emperors new clothes." While ratings are a helpful tool, I’ve noticed that Arbitron seems to have things neatly organized so that almost every station, no matter how bad it is, has a bright spot they can use to sell the station. I guess that figures, since it really is all about sales.

 

[fred flintstone]

I'll go even further: For comms and non-comms, 12+ numbers don't EVER tell the whole story.

And yes, like those "awards" broadcasters keep giving each other in a pathetic quest for legitimacy and respectability, everybody wins something. Of course, the more you break down the numbers, the less statistically valid they become.

But now advertisers and broadcasters will have the whole story for all stations in the market.

 

[ThinLizzyRocks]

Arbitron changed their mind - I guess big daddy Clear Channel must have weighed in...

You can read the full press release at http://www.onlinepressroom.net/arbitron/


NEW YORK; November 2, 2006 – Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) announced today that it will delay the reporting of public and non-commercial radio stations in the company’s local market ratings reports. The company is revising its plans based on input received from the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council during the October 23-25 meeting held in Houston.

Arbitron had announced on September 25, 2006 that public and non-commercial radio stations would have been eligible for reporting in the company’s local market ratings reports effective with the release of the Fall 2006 survey reports.

The Council requested that Arbitron wait to report public and non-commercial radio stations in the company’s local market ratings only when Arbitron was ready to report to report individual satellite radio channels and Internet radio channels.

The company is currently collecting and analyzing additional data in order to further refine rules for crediting satellite radio entries, including the rules for handling diary entries that could be assigned to either satellite or over-the-air stations.

Public and non-commercial radio stations are currently reported in Arbitron’s Maximi$er® and Media ProfessionalSM respondent level data services and in the special public radio service marketed by the Radio Research Consortium (RRC). Non-commercial stations are also currently reported in Arbitron’s national radio ratings services such as Nationwide and the National/Regional Database (NRD).

Listening to non-commercial stations, Internet radio simulcasts of AM/FM stations, HD multicast stations and satellite radio will continue to be included in estimates of total radio listening (PUR)....