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Eastlan Ratings for Atlanta

R

RoddyFreeman

I haven't seen any mention of this here, but Eastlan, a ratings service that previously measured only smaller markets, has been covering some larger markets including Atlanta for several months.

Eastlan reports all stations meeting minimum requirements, including non-subscribers, which means Cumulus stations appear in the reports. The reported shares for Atlanta are for Persons 12+ rather than 6+ shown in Nielsen reports for the market.

You can see the numbers at Radio Insight but looking at them quickly, I didn't see much of a difference from Nielsen.
 
Eastlan's methodology combines electronic surveys (e-surveys) and telephone interviews. I'm not an expert on this but the fact that Eastlan apparently is relying on memory rather than actual listening, makes them sound less reliable than ratings determined by Nielsen's PPM. But again, I am not expert on this.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Eastlan's methodology combines electronic surveys (e-surveys) and telephone interviews. I'm not an expert on this but the fact that Eastlan apparently is relying on memory rather than actual listening, makes them sound less reliable than ratings determined by Nielsen's PPM. But again, I am not expert on this.
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My thoughts exactly. Anybody can say anything over the phone without providing any proof to back it up. I understand Eastlan uses a larger sample of surveys, but Nielsen's PPM meter doesn't lie.

I would lean towards Nielsen being more accurate.
 
I was looking at some of the other markets, particularly Cincinnati and Chicago, that have both Nielsen PPM and now Eastlan. Like Atlanta, there aren't any major sways one way or another when putting Nielsen PPM shares and Eastlan shares side by side. And for Cinci, all of the Cumulus stations are right around where they had been in relation to the others prior to the delisting from the Nielsen public numbers.
 
BoboKnight said:
Nielsen’s methodology may be better but Eastlan is more accurate since they include Cumulus stations imo.
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Nielsen's methodology does not exclude Cumulus stations - if you are a subscriber, you can see the Cumulus stations. The Cumulus stations (and any non-subscribing station) are redacted from the public releases. The redactions do not affect the accuracy of the data.
 
BoboKnight said:
Nielsen’s methodology may be better but Eastlan is more accurate since they include Cumulus stations imo.
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Not publishing a station's rating does not mean that they do no measure it. Other nonsubscribers are not shown either, but the base for calculating share includes them... it just does not show them.
 
vw86 said:
I was looking at some of the other markets, particularly Cincinnati and Chicago, that have both Nielsen PPM and now Eastlan. Like Atlanta, there aren't any major sways one way or another when putting Nielsen PPM shares and Eastlan shares side by side. And for Cinci, all of the Cumulus stations are right around where they had been in relation to the others prior to the delisting from the Nielsen public numbers.
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This is definitely a good sign. I remember back in the day, there were often big differences between Arbitron and Birch numbers.
 
KilowattKat said:
In Houston Eastlan shows #1 KODA with a 1.5 higher share than Nielsen. Isn't that out of any wobble range? Hmmm...
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Recall always rounds upwards and that is why Persons Using Radio (now PUMM) fell by about 35% when the PPM was introduced with more precise measurement.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Yes, it’s good they have something to hang their hat on. But I’m not sure how much good it does them since agencies buy off Nielsen.
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The issue is whether Nielsen's recent actions, particularly yesterday's announcement of their withdrawal from accreditation efforts in the diary markets, may make agencies reconsider.

As you would know better than I, agencies have "embedded" software and systems based on Nielsen that migyht not be able to process Eastlan data without a considerable, and perhaps costly, upgrade.

Most agencies started using Arbitron in the later 60's, and it became absolute when Arbitron synchronized releases early in the 70's. That is over a half century of habit and tradition.
 


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