I'm not sure if most of you in the biz would have already seen this, but for the readers on the outside looking in, you may find this interesting. For whatever reason, PPM is a subject that interests me big time and this document has a lot to it.
http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/monthlyppmclientupdate12_7_09.pdf
Arbitron appears to go into a lot of detail about sample sizes and ensuring minorities are counted correctly. I never realized there were cell phone surveys, as an example. When there are major sports events, such as a World Series carried on radio, the report provides info on the ratings spike (pages 68, 69) as was the case between Philly and New York.
The only thing I can see as questionable is in the format section. I only noticed 1 country format designation. A market can have country oldies, modern country and perhaps a 50/50 mix all attracting a different audience and that's not really reflected here. I also follow oldies, classic hits and adult hits formats and I don't know how anyone can accurately report findings because individual stations are almost all over the map. There are classic hits stations that are very close to traditional oldies and there are those listed as oldies that act more like classic hits, so go figure. I also didn't like how rock was broken down. It leaves a bit to interpretation. I believe as more markets are added, format breakdowns info will become more valid. Format attraction can change by market. News/talk, for example, fared Ok but in a market like Jax, the numbers would be very different.
Anyway, I hope this is an interesting read for all of you. I can't get enough of this stuff. Thanks to David Eduardo, great radio guru and major R.I. contributor for providing this report. Happy reading!
P.S. - For those who read this regularly or who can provide more insight on PPM, please post. I'd like to learn more about this subject. Thanks.
http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/monthlyppmclientupdate12_7_09.pdf
Arbitron appears to go into a lot of detail about sample sizes and ensuring minorities are counted correctly. I never realized there were cell phone surveys, as an example. When there are major sports events, such as a World Series carried on radio, the report provides info on the ratings spike (pages 68, 69) as was the case between Philly and New York.
The only thing I can see as questionable is in the format section. I only noticed 1 country format designation. A market can have country oldies, modern country and perhaps a 50/50 mix all attracting a different audience and that's not really reflected here. I also follow oldies, classic hits and adult hits formats and I don't know how anyone can accurately report findings because individual stations are almost all over the map. There are classic hits stations that are very close to traditional oldies and there are those listed as oldies that act more like classic hits, so go figure. I also didn't like how rock was broken down. It leaves a bit to interpretation. I believe as more markets are added, format breakdowns info will become more valid. Format attraction can change by market. News/talk, for example, fared Ok but in a market like Jax, the numbers would be very different.
Anyway, I hope this is an interesting read for all of you. I can't get enough of this stuff. Thanks to David Eduardo, great radio guru and major R.I. contributor for providing this report. Happy reading!
P.S. - For those who read this regularly or who can provide more insight on PPM, please post. I'd like to learn more about this subject. Thanks.