February 2025 Bay Area Radio PPM Ratings

[HenryOchs]

Here are the February 2025 San Francisco radio PPM ratings:

San Francisco

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings San Francisco (Market #6) Population: 6,600,600 Black: 430,500 – Hispanic: 1,605,200 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and...

radioinsight.com

And the February 2025 San Jose radio PPM ratings:

San Jose

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings San Jose (Market #39) Population: 1,648,900 Black: 47,200 – Hispanic: 403,500 Average Quarter Hour Share for Persons 6+, Mon-Sun 6AM-Mid All ratings are Copyright © 2005-2024 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved. Nielsen radio audience estimates and data are...

radioinsight.com

Any thoughts or observations?

 

[TheBigA]

Audacy is celebrating a rare victory as The Game beats KNBR.

 

[Weiserguy]

Two observations: (1) even with 0.3 share point deficit, KNBR still cumes 30K higher than KGMZ; and (2) even with that famous 50KW blowtorch signal on 810, the best KSFO could muster was 0.4 additional share over the average (~1.4) of the previous 5 months at the old 5KW 560 signal. Hell, if that's the best they could do, they might have been better off leaving it on 560 and putting 810 out of its misery.

 

[davideduardo]

Two observations: (1) even with 0.3 share point deficit, KNBR still cumes 30K higher than KGMZ;

Keep in mind that agencies seldom do "reach & frequency" any more, particularly since the PPM spoiled things. So cume is relatively unimportant.

It used to be that agencies would look at things like "optimum frequency" and buy to get the same reach on each station but with different numbers of spots bought. Today, that is very uncommon and radio is bought as a commodity, often using computer programs with no actual talk with the station.

 

[Weiserguy]

Keep in mind that agencies seldom do "reach & frequency" any more, particularly since the PPM spoiled things. So cume is relatively unimportant.

It used to be that agencies would look at things like "optimum frequency" and buy to get the same reach on each station but with different numbers of spots bought. Today, that is very uncommon and radio is bought as a commodity, often using computer programs with no actual talk with the station.

David, what you wrote is technically accurate, but I have the luxury to not care about the implications of agency buys when I comment on a station's ratings or share. Cume is an indication of how many gross listeners the station has, and for use in comparisons it has currency. I doubt there are very many agencies looking to make a buy on a station like KSFO anyway, since their audience is the Cranky Old Men demo, well outside the demo agencies are looking to buy.

 

[Fighting Irish]

Two observations: (1) even with 0.3 share point deficit, KNBR still cumes 30K higher than KGMZ; and (2) even with that famous 50KW blowtorch signal on 810, the best KSFO could muster was 0.4 additional share over the average (~1.4) of the previous 5 months at the old 5KW 560 signal. Hell, if that's the best they could do, they might have been better off leaving it on 560 and putting 810 out of its misery.

Truth be told, KSFO's numbers shot up like crazy in the South Bay book.

 

[Weiserguy]

Truth be told, KSFO's numbers shot up like crazy in the South Bay book.

Yes, they did go up, though I wouldn't phrase it quite the way you did. They jumped from a 2.3 to a 3.4, month-over-month, but if you compare to last December, the last book before they started trying to force the stragglers over to 810, KSFO had a 2.7, so the share increased ~26% from that benchmark. Considering how much stronger 810 is in the South Bay compared to 560, that increase makes sense. But the 3.4 share is also on a total South Bay cume of only 47 thousand listeners, so we're really only discussing a net increase of maybe 10-12 thousand listeners, now that they have a much cleaner signal to tune to.

 

[MarkW]

The tanking of KNBR's beauty pageant 6+ share over the past six months is quite remarkable. I don't know if I've ever seen the brand fail to crack a 2 share before.

Isn't KNBR the older skewing (audience age wise) of the two major sports stations? Would not at all surprise me if The Game is crushing them in Men 25 to 54.

I'm very happy to see that Live 105 has been able to sustain its momentum. I hope that remains true a year or two years from now.

 

[Street Novelist]

The tanking of KNBR's beauty pageant 6+ share over the past six months is quite remarkable. I don't know if I've ever seen the brand fail to crack a 2 share before.

Isn't KNBR the older skewing (audience age wise) of the two major sports stations? Would not at all surprise me if The Game is crushing them in Men 25 to 54.

I'm very happy to see that Live 105 has been able to sustain its momentum. I hope that remains true a year or two years from now.

Once baseball season starts and the Giants are playing, that will change. Remember, KNBR also lost the rights to the Warriors. KGMZ now broadcasts those games.

 

[HenryOchs]

I see KYLD's ratings are going up one month and down the next. Would not at all surprise me if The Game and KDON are crushing them in certain demos in San Jose.

 

[Len Bias]

KEXC/KEXP is .8 and has been steadily climbing. Wonder kind kind of ratings and/or listenership they are hoping for in the Bay to make it worthwhile.

 

[michael hagerty]

Yes, they did go up, though I wouldn't phrase it quite the way you did. They jumped from a 2.3 to a 3.4, month-over-month, but if you compare to last December, the last book before they started trying to force the stragglers over to 810, KSFO had a 2.7, so the share increased ~26% from that benchmark. Considering how much stronger 810 is in the South Bay compared to 560, that increase makes sense. But the 3.4 share is also on a total South Bay cume of only 47 thousand listeners, so we're really only discussing a net increase of maybe 10-12 thousand listeners, now that they have a much cleaner signal to tune to.

How'd I end up this late to the party?

Here's the thing, @Weiserguy (tagging you since it's been a while)---you may care about cume, but as @DavidEduardo noted, the agencies don't anymore.

If you're Cumulus, you've taken a format that is likely to do better the further south it can be heard, goosed it from something like 16th to 9th in the South Bay and you've increased share (the thing the agencies do buy) in that book by 26%.

And you've done it while essentially maintaining the share the format had in San Francisco.

 

[Weiserguy]

How'd I end up this late to the party?

I don't know, have you been doing your annual Passover prep? Or maybe watching your 401K evaporate? 🤣 🤣 🤣

Considering you wrote what you wrote at 4:12 AM PDT, I hope you're back East with the family. Otherwise your sleep problems are worse than mine.

Here's the thing, @Weiserguy (tagging you since it's been a while)---you may care about cume, but as @DavidEduardo noted, the agencies don't anymore.

If you'd scrolled back a couple more posts, you'd have read this little missive from moi to Señor Eduardo:

David, what you wrote is technically accurate, but I have the luxury to not care about the implications of agency buys when I comment on a station's ratings or share. Cume is an indication of how many gross listeners the station has, and for use in comparisons it has currency. I doubt there are very many agencies looking to make a buy on a station like KSFO anyway, since their audience is the Cranky Old Men demo, well outside the demo agencies are looking to buy.

I appreciate that you folks who've spent your careers in commercial media are finely attuned to what agencies demand, but there is a meta-discussion too, which is that the total number of listeners to a station/network/program/etc. counts for something. For instance, if I own a station and spend a $Million to improve my signal, and all that buys me is a hundred new listeners (I'm picking numbers that are easy to do without a calculator), I've blown $10,000 to gain each new listener. If I gained 10K new listeners, then maybe that $Hundred per might be worth it over time.

Obviously it matters what demos those new listeners fall into for sales purposes, but does anyone think that a $Million to buy a hundred new listeners in even the most prime money demos would ever be recouped in their lifetime? Whether or not agencies are overtly considering share, cume or the blondeness of the sales person, cume must matter if buys are to have any correlation to reality.

If you're Cumulus, you've taken a format that is likely to do better the further south it can be heard, goosed it from something like 16th to 9th in the South Bay and you've increased share (the thing the agencies do buy) in that book by 26%.

And you've done it while essentially maintaining the share the format had in San Francisco.

In the overall SFBA market, how much has the shift from 560 to 810 really benefited Cumulus? In the Feb book, KSFO is #19 with a 1.8. In Jan they were at 1.4, a tie for #22. (I'll ignore the Holiday book and KOIT's annual sugar rush.) In Dec they were at #21 with a 1.6, and in Nov it was also #21 with a 1.7. And looking at the cume from the March book (since I don't have retrospective reports handy), they were #27, pulling about the same cume (139K) as little KUIC (143K) from up around Vacaville. (Not belittling KUIC, just pointing out that they get their 143K listeners with all of 490 watts, besting KSFO on the mighty 810's 50Kw flamethrower.) Does that sound like they're succeeding?

I think I'd better stop now, I'm starting to sound like @Gregg. again.

 

[davideduardo]

Obviously it matters what demos those new listeners fall into for sales purposes, but does anyone think that a $Million to buy a hundred new listeners in even the most prime money demos would ever be recouped in their lifetime? Whether or not agencies are overtly considering share, cume or the blondeness of the sales person, cume must matter if buys are to have any correlation to reality.

Agencies and time buying services today don’t look at cume at all. What they want to know is how many people hear each ad, not how many people in total listen at other times.

Long ago, in the 70’s, several radio groups tried to show that stations with long TSL were more efficient in reaching all of their cume. They invented a thing called “new math” which tried to show the optimum number of spots, depending on the cume to AQH person ratio. It was not successful and few if any agencies implemented it.

 

[MarkW]

KEXC/KEXP is .8 and has been steadily climbing. Wonder kind kind of ratings and/or listenership they are hoping for in the Bay to make it worthwhile.

Not bad at all for the signal!

 

[chrocket87]

KEXC/KEXP is .8 and has been steadily climbing. Wonder kind kind of ratings and/or listenership they are hoping for in the Bay to make it worthwhile.

If they can get enough donations to pay the bills and purchase price, this is a success.

 

[michael hagerty]

I don't know, have you been doing your annual Passover prep? Or maybe watching your 401K evaporate? 🤣 🤣 🤣

Porque no los dos?

Considering you wrote what you wrote at 4:12 AM PDT, I hope you're back East with the family. Otherwise your sleep problems are worse than mine.

Sleep? In this economy?

Nope. Wide awake at 3:30 a.m.

I'd tell you why I can't sleep but (whispers) doing that summons ChannelFlipper and we all know where that ends.

If you'd scrolled back a couple more posts, you'd have read this little missive from moi to Señor Eduardo:


I appreciate that you folks who've spent your careers in commercial media are finely attuned to what agencies demand, but there is a meta-discussion too, which is that the total number of listeners to a station/network/program/etc. counts for something. For instance, if I own a station and spend a $Million to improve my signal, and all that buys me is a hundred new listeners (I'm picking numbers that are easy to do without a calculator), I've blown $10,000 to gain each new listener. If I gained 10K new listeners, then maybe that $Hundred per might be worth it over time.

Obviously it matters what demos those new listeners fall into for sales purposes, but does anyone think that a $Million to buy a hundred new listeners in even the most prime money demos would ever be recouped in their lifetime? Whether or not agencies are overtly considering share, cume or the blondeness of the sales person, cume must matter if buys are to have any correlation to reality.

But as David explained, it is no longer a meaningful metric to the people who actually place ad buys that make the station its money. I'm not saying they're right, but their decision to focus on things other than cume is like the designated hitter rule---it just is.

And Cumulus didn't spend a million dollars to improve its signal. They put programming that sorta worked on 560 on 810 and shut 560 down, eliminating one station worth of operating costs.

In the overall SFBA market, how much has the shift from 560 to 810 really benefited Cumulus? In the Feb book, KSFO is #19 with a 1.8. In Jan they were at 1.4, a tie for #22. (I'll ignore the Holiday book and KOIT's annual sugar rush.) In Dec they were at #21 with a 1.6, and in Nov it was also #21 with a 1.7. And looking at the cume from the March book (since I don't have retrospective reports handy), they were #27, pulling about the same cume (139K) as little KUIC (143K) from up around Vacaville. (Not belittling KUIC, just pointing out that they get their 143K listeners with all of 490 watts, besting KSFO on the mighty 810's 50Kw flamethrower.) Does that sound like they're succeeding?

I think I'd better stop now, I'm starting to sound like @Gregg. again.

And again, it doesn't matter. They didn't hurt their share in the SF book and they're now a top 10 station with a 25% share increase in the South Bay. The move to 810 is additive.