New York April 2024 PPM

[Theater of My Mind]

Expecting @pjc1961 to jump in with his usual comprehensive summary soon but to get the ball rolling, here are the main links for the April PPM survey period.

Age 6+

New York

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings New York City (Market #1) Population: 16,299,100 Black: 2,670,400 – Hispanic: 4,273,100 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...

radioinsight.com

Top 5 demo rankings from Research Director, Inc./XTrends:

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, April 2024, Part I | Research Director, Inc.

As predictable as the tides, every 28 days the ebbs and flows of the Nielsen metaverse are foisted upon us. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTO

researchdirectorinc.com

Some notes:
WLTW was #1 overall and topped every demo reported by Xtrends.
18-34: WSKQ slipped three places to #5
25-54: WNEW 102.7 moved up three slots to #6
6+: WABC was down 4.0-3.2 and WXBK tied its previous low of 1.3

 

[MVB13]

Expecting @pjc1961 to jump in with his usual comprehensive summary soon but to get the ball rolling, here are the main links for the April PPM survey period.

Age 6+

New York

Nielsen Audio PPM Monthly Ratings New York City (Market #1) Population: 16,299,100 Black: 2,670,400 – Hispanic: 4,273,100 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...

radioinsight.com

Top 5 demo rankings from Research Director, Inc./XTrends:

RADIO RATINGS ROUNDUP, April 2024, Part I | Research Director, Inc.

As predictable as the tides, every 28 days the ebbs and flows of the Nielsen metaverse are foisted upon us. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTO

researchdirectorinc.com

Some notes:
WLTW was #1 overall and topped every demo reported by Xtrends.
18-34: WSKQ slipped three places to #5
25-54: WNEW 102.7 moved up three slots to #6
6+: WABC was down 4.0-3.2 and WXBK tied its previous low of 1.3

I can see The Block flipping. It's ratings are horrible! Maybe go as a Variety Hits Station? Power isn't doing well and same with Hot. Maybe go more classic on power and hot?

 

[MVB13]

I can see The Block flipping. It's ratings are horrible! Maybe go as a Variety Hits Station? Power isn't doing well and same with Hot. Maybe go more classic on power and hot?

Dare I say move Alt from HD to 94.7 where it belonged all along.

 

[TheBigA]

The ratings for The Block may be bad, but its cume is very good. So there are other things that we aren't seeing in the 6+ numbers.

Audacy knows the most important number, which is revenue.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

The ratings for The Block may be bad, but its cume is very good. So there are other things that we aren't seeing in the 6+ numbers.

It shows there's a lot of people not listening for very long. Maybe they punch over to 94.7 when their favorite station goes into a break and then they quickly tune back out. Why doesn't The Block hold them for longer? They must hear something that quickly drives them away.

Audacy knows the most important number, which is revenue.

That's the same thing everyone kept saying about WPLJ when its Hot-AC ratings were in the cellar too. "It makes so much money from suburban housewives." It wasn't really believable then either.

 

[101tm]

Positive, Encouraging 95.5 is ahead of Hot. Quite interesting.

Variety hits is out of the question for 94.7 with 101.1 in the same cluster.

 

[TheBigA]

Variety hits is out of the question for 94.7 with 101.1 in the same cluster.

Although Audacy has KCBS (Jack) and KRTH (classic hits) in the same cluster in LA. I think they have a similar situation in Dallas.

My view is they like the demo they get with the block. They have nothing like it in NY.

 

[TheBigA]

That's the same thing everyone kept saying about WPLJ when its Hot-AC ratings were in the cellar too. "It makes so much money from suburban housewives." It wasn't really believable then either.

WPLJ didn't do badly in revenue, but it was the only hit in a bad cluster. One hit isn't enough to pay for a full staffed group in NY. specially if you're competing against iHeart and Audacy, each billing $100 million.. Mediaco is struggling with two hits. Cumulus only had one.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

Although Audacy has KCBS (Jack) and KRTH (classic hits) in the same cluster in LA. I think they have a similar situation in Dallas.

My view is they like the demo they get with the block. They have nothing like it in NY.

Unless someone has access to the real revenue numbers, we are all just speculating. If the station is profitable within the cluster, it will survive. If it's not, it will flip. That's NYC radio.

 

[101tm]

Although Audacy has KCBS (Jack) and KRTH (classic hits) in the same cluster in LA. I think they have a similar situation in Dallas.

My view is they like the demo they get with the block. They have nothing like it in NY.

That’s true. The only difference with those stations Vs. a hypothetical new one in NYC would be the Dallas and LA stations were launched when their sister stations were still playing primarily 60s and 70s oldies, while the variety hits stations were much more musically ahead centered on the late 70s and 80s. Now we’re at a point where there’s a lot of overlap between variety hits and classic hits, although Audacy has managed to keep both out of each others’ way to a degree where they all do well in DFW and LA.

I still think launching a new variety hits station in a cluster with a classic hits station in 2024 (or whenever) would be risky. If it were to happen in NYC (which I doubt for a variety of reasons), the variety hits station would probably need to be more rock and classic alternative based to stay out of CBS-FM’s more rhythmic friendly (for classic hits) lane.

My prediction though is The Block will stay. Audacy sees a value in it that we as bystanders aren’t privy to. They wouldn’t keep an FM signal in market #1 with poor numbers for this long if there wasn’t something offsetting it under the hood.

 

[TheBigA]

Now we’re at a point where there’s a lot of overlap between variety hits and classic hits, although Audacy has managed to keep both out of each others’ way to a degree where they all do well in DFW and LA.

The presentation is different, and it helps that they each have heritage in their markets. Much harder to start from scratch which is what they'd be doing.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

WPLJ didn't do badly in revenue, but it was the only hit in a bad cluster.

After WPLJ's sale was announced we found out the station had lost around 60-70% of its revenue in its final years. But there was a constant narrative, both here and on the NYRMB, that we shouldn't believe our lying eyes when it came to PLJ's ratings. Suburban housewives loved the station and it was making piles of money from advertisers who lusted after them. Or so the story went.

I never believed it, and it turned out not to be true after all. Just like the narrative about WXBK doing great with revenue, in spite of its sub-basement ratings, seems very suspect now.

 

[ksradiogeek]

I can see The Block flipping. It's ratings are horrible! Maybe go as a Variety Hits Station?

And cannibalize CBS? No.

And resurrecting the tired alt thing despite the format’s recent and past history in this market that you either don’t seem to understand or ignore for the umpteenth time is a non-starter. The end.

 

[TheBigA]

Just like the narrative about WXBK doing great with revenue, in spite of its sub-basement ratings, seems very suspect now.

I'm not saying they have "great" revenue. My view is its a different demo to sell in a cluster that mainly leans older and male.

What I heard about WPLJ is they were getting killed by the competition in a market where agencies rule.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

What I heard about WPLJ is they were getting killed by the competition in a market where agencies rule.

And what agencies are buying the last-place FM, third of three in its format, #21-ranked radio station in the market now?

 

[MichaelD1972]

My prediction though is The Block will stay. Audacy sees a value in it that we as bystanders aren’t privy to. They wouldn’t keep an FM signal in market #1 with poor numbers for this long if there wasn’t something offsetting it under the hood.

I have to agree with you about The Block staying. Besides, what formats are left for 94.7 to flip to that's feasible?

 

[TheBigA]

And what agencies are buying the last-place FM, third of three in its format, #21-ranked radio station in the market now?

Audacy as a cluster has much more leverage than Cumulus.

 

[Gregg.]

I've said it before but I'll say it again. Give WCBS 880 an FM simulcast on 94.7. You don't let a station with WCBS's wonderful billing sink. And sinking it is, stuck on the AM band while WINS is #5 in the latest NYC ratings with its FM simulcast.

Does NYC need two All-News stations on FM? I don't care if it's All-News or it plays Lithuanian folk tunes. If WCBS is one of Audacy's highest billing stations, management shouldn't let it die on the AM dial. I'm quite sure, the next time we see the list of America's top billing stations, WCBS will not be in the top eleven anymore. It's the only station among the eleven with just an AM signal. In the last decade, the other AM stations on that list, WBBM, WFAN, WINS and WSB, got FM simulcasts. The high billing Audacy AM stations in other markets have also gotten FM simulcasts in recent years, KCBS, KNX, KYW. Only WCBS is stranded on the AM dial.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

And what agencies are buying the last-place FM, third of three in its format, #21-ranked radio station in the market now?

Audacy as a cluster has much more leverage than Cumulus.

The answer is you don't know. And neither do I. None of us do.
But common sense dictates that a station in that position ain't doin' great, no matter how you try to spin it.

 

[Loverofradio]

The ratings for The Block may be bad, but its cume is very good. So there are other things that we aren't seeing in the 6+ numbers.

Audacy knows the most important number, which is revenue.

The cume for 97.1 now was pretty high too, and then audacy flipped it to knx