Cumulus Sues Nielsen over Ratings Monopoly

[secondchoice]

Back in the last century, in sub 100 markets, a lot of successful station's had sales folks that had relationships with their clients usually the business owners. Years of successful campaigns made sales a lot easier. Ratings in smaller markets were not an issue as long as the customer got results..

Very rarely do big box retailers let anyone not at the headquarters or national agency make any kind of decisions.

 

[CTListener]

What is Eastlan's methodology? Paper diaries only? How does it deal with panelists who report listening to non-subscribing stations, HD subchannels, or SiriusXM? Can subscribers see those statistics or are they just ignored?

 

[davideduardo]

What is Eastlan's methodology? Paper diaries only? How does it deal with panelists who report listening to non-subscribing stations, HD subchannels, or SiriusXM? Can subscribers see those statistics or are they just ignored?

This comes from Google AI but is fairly accurate:

(Eastlan does not have a description of methodology on its website that I can find)

Eastlan Ratings employs a hybrid, multi-modal methodology for radio audience measurement that combines telephone interviews and electronic surveys ("e-surveys") to collect data from listeners. As of 2017, approximately 87% of their completed surveys are derived from e-surveys, while 13% come from telephone interviews (landline and cellular).
Key components of the Eastlan methodology include:

• Hybrid Recruitment & Data Collection: Eastlan uses a combination of telephone (cellular, VOIP, or landline) and online surveys (e-surveys). The e-survey invitations are managed through partnerships with panel companies like Dynata and Cint.
• Controlled Accumulation: The final in-tab sample is balanced based on five key variables: day of the week, age, gender, race, and ZIP code.
• One Person Per Household: To ensure broad representation, Eastlan generally limits surveys to only one person per household.
• Radio Listening Probes: The survey focuses on the previous 24-hour period, asking participants to detail their radio listening, including exact start and stop times, and the specific station.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

I like to see Eastlan Ratings expand to Harrisburg and Allentown

Isn't Eastlan still using diaries though? Radio ratings services really need to emerge from the tech stone age.

 

[davideduardo]

Isn't Eastlan still using diaries though? Radio ratings services really need to emerge from the tech stone age.

Eastlan has a one-day, 24 hour period for each respondent. That is not compatible with the diary system.

Methodology is found in the "methodology" section (middle button) at Eastlan Ratings

 

[vchimpanzee]

The one thing I've noticed about Eastlan, before I somehow realized I wasn't seeing what I wanted, was the number of out-of-market stations.

 

[davideduardo]

The one thing I've noticed about Eastlan, before I somehow realized I wasn't seeing what I wanted, was the number of out-of-market stations.

Remember, just like Nielsen, Eastlan uses counties (not individual cities) as Its survey geography. And just like Nielsen, they use in many cases multiple counties. In smaller markets, which is where Eastlan mostly serves, rural counties may have lots of local radio stations as well as being covered by those in the core city.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Remember, just like Nielsen, Eastlan uses counties (not individual cities) as Its survey geography. And just like Nielsen, they use in many cases multiple counties. In smaller markets, which is where Eastlan mostly serves, rural counties may have lots of local radio stations as well as being covered by those in the core city.

I saw radio stations from adjacent markets, not just local stations. Such as Raleigh NC in the Greenville-New Bern, NC market.