Nielsen Lowers the Bar … to Three Minutes

[Kasper]

Moneyball: Nielsen Lowers the Bar … to Three Minutes

It’s not unprecedented, but it is new and different: Nielsen is planning to drop the requirement of five minutes of listening in a clock quarter hour for a station to earn credit for a quarter hour and make the new requirement just three minutes of listening. This IS a first for this lower threshold in the metered methodology (the old RADAR report had the three-minute threshold before Arbitron bought it from SRI and subsequently updated the threshold to five minutes).

I attribute this to the dwindling attention span of the average person having so many entertainment options available.

 

[radiofan2023]

Moneyball: Nielsen Lowers the Bar … to Three Minutes



I attribute this to the dwindling attention span of the average person having so many entertainment options available.

The article says before 2001, which is when Arbitron bought it, that:

the old RADAR report had the three-minute threshold before Arbitron bought it from SRI and subsequently updated the threshold to five minutes

 

[TheBigA]

Here's analysis from Pierre Bouvard, former Arbitron CEO:

How Nielsen’s Proposed PPM Adjustments Will Impact AM/FM Vs. TV.

Nielsen recently announced its intention to change the formula for quarter-hour credit for stations in Portable People Meter markets — changing the required listening time from five to three minutes

www.insideradio.com

 

[TheBigA]

Consultant Mike McVay has weighed in on the new Nielsen system.

The New Nielsen - Radio Ink

How will Nielsen's 3-minute AQH shift impact the measurement of audiences and advertising effectiveness in PPM markets?

radioink.com

Key point in the article:

Edison Research Co-Founder and President Larry Rosin and I have long debated airing two longer stop-sets versus four shorter breaks per/hour. Larry believes in shorter breaks, while I have supported longer breaks, based on Nielsen’s previous methodology – until now. Given this change, four shorter breaks could be extremely beneficial.

Pierre Bouvard, in his article posted in #3, agrees:

Creating more ad breaks of shorter duration generates larger commercial audiences. Advertisers stand out more in shorter breaks. Growing audience deliveries for AM/FM radio ads improves marketing effectiveness and grows sales effect.

 

[davideduardo]

Consultant Mike McVay has weighed in on the new Nielsen system.

Pierre Bouvard, in his article posted in #3, agrees:

The key argument for just two stops is that... and it varies by format... over 80% of any audience loss happens in the first 90" or so of a stopset. So, argue the 2-stop proponents, better to do fewer stops since the loss is mostly at the start of the stopset anyway.

I believe the best system is no more than 2 minutes, with 2½ minutes being better, four times an hour in the dead center of each quarter hour.

And you can skip one stop and promote "a big half hour of non-stop music now on Z-109!"

I use "big" here on purpose. Radio does not get "puffery" at all. "A looooong hour of non-stop music" is much better than just "another hour of non-stop music".

 

[TheBigA]

I believe the best system is no more than 2 minutes, with 2½ minutes being better, four times an hour in the dead center of each quarter hour.

Pierre has a chart for that. You reach 99% of the audience with 2 minutes. It drops to 96% with three.

What's interesting is he says 85% of the audience stays through a 6+ minute break, confirming what we've been saying about long breaks.

 

[davideduardo]

Pierre has a chart for that. You reach 99% of the audience with 2 minutes. It drops to 96% with three.

The problem is that the chart is based on format averages. Different formats with different "kinds" of people will have more or less tolerance.

What's interesting is he says 85% of the audience stays through a 6+ minute break, confirming what we've been saying about long breaks.

And that is why stations prefer the long breaks fewer times. I personally think that the long term result... over many hours and many days... is very negative for those 7 to 8 minute stops and that the overall impact of the 4-stop concept favors longer total TSL.

 

[TheBigA]

I personally think that the long term result... over many hours and many days... is very negative for those 7 to 8 minute stops and that the overall impact of the 4-stop concept favors longer total TSL.

We won't know what the real impact will be until Nielsen implements the new system. They haven't set a date yet.

 

[kevtronics]

I believe the best system is no more than 2 minutes, with 2½ minutes being better, four times an hour in the dead center of each quarter hour.

92.3 in NYC tried the "two-minute promise". It worked so well that within a year, the wait for them to get back to the music changed from 2 minutes to indefinite.

 

[davideduardo]

We won't know what the real impact will be until Nielsen implements the new system. They haven't set a date yet.

I was talking in general terms. With one “network” of music FMs with Univision in major PPM markets, I used three stops at :22, :37 and :52 which allowed for a half-hour sweep across the transitional time of the top of the hour.

We were rewarded when at a PPM seminar, the example of quarter hour retention the ratings folks used was our Bay Area station. What differentiated quarter hour maintenance from the diary days was the huge number of tidbits of listening during a day in PPM versus the long “9 AM to 5 PM” we used to see in the diary. Quarter hour maintenance was about having people spend as much time as possible each occasion of listening and then come back, over and over, for more.

The presentation they made showed that station with as many as 20 separate instance of workday listening, with no other station in between.and the longest segments were the ones with the half-hour sweep in them.

This technique works even better with a 3 minute minimum detection for credit base.

Of course, part of that retention involved very strict horizontal rotations and protections as well.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Pierre has a chart for that. You reach 99% of the audience with 2 minutes. It drops to 96% with three.

Back when I listened to America's Best Music more than on the way to and from the beach, I figured out their breaks were three minutes. There were two breaks that all stations took, and two others where music were provided for stations that didn't have commercials to run during those other two breaks. When I decided to start looking for something else, I realized three in 20 minutes was too much.

What's interesting is he says 85% of the audience stays through a 6+ minute break, confirming what we've been saying about long breaks.

I don't have that kind of patience, but I found another station to listen to when I went to the mountains (don't remember what they do) that wasn't iHeart. I listen to Christmas music this time of year but the minute there is a commercial I know I won't hear music for a long time without changing stations. And all the big FMs do long commercial breaks.

What these stations should do at some point is what they do when TV episodes are watched online on the network web site. Most of the time we get to see how many ads there will be and how much time is left until the episode resumes. The good news is most of those commercials I haven't seen and they tend to be entertaining.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't have that kind of patience,

That puts you in the 15%

 

[rparky54]

What I've noticed is that stations in my market conspire to sync there commercial breaks to all run at the same time. Probably to discourage listeners from changing the stations once ads start running.

 

[TheBigA]

What I've noticed is that stations in my market conspire to sync there commercial breaks to all run at the same time. Probably to discourage listeners from changing the stations once ads start running.

Not necessarily. They simply use the same clock because that's what works best for PPM.

It's like saying all stations in the same format "conspire" to play the same music. No, they're just playing the hits.

 

[b-turner]

No they don't. Research shows the best time to air commercials and stations air commercials at those times in the hour, plain and simple.

 

[kevtronics]

No they don't. Research shows the best time to air commercials and stations air commercials at those times in the hour, plain and simple.

But if all the stations in a market are following the same research and having their commercial breaks at the same time, wouldn't a station gain a competitive advantage by playing music while all the other stations are playing commercials?

 

[b-turner]

If you have two stations after the same audience, yes, for a short time. Then your direct competitor adjusts their break to counter you within a week o9r two and it never ends. It's much better to just play a better song all the time than to go after that 15% you lose temporarily to commercials.

 

[radiorobert]

The advertiser will be getting less value now because they are even less guaranteed to have a listener hearing their ad. Regardless of what you do with stop sets being longer or shorter. This feels like Neilsen just trying to help the industry look better than it is. My opinion.

 

[TheBigA]

Doesn't this all just play on numbers to make the station look better than it necessarily is?

So you think five minutes is a more accurate measurement? Keep in mind that advertisers see the bigger picture, not just the minimum.

This feels like Neilsen just trying to help the industry look better than it is. My opinion.

It has nothing to do with "the industry." It's about getting credit for listeners. If listeners are there, they should be counted.

There are other ways to measure how long they listen, which is TSL.

 

[radiorobert]

So you think five minutes is a more accurate measurement? Keep in mind that advertisers see the bigger picture, not just the minimum.



It has nothing to do with "the industry." It's about getting credit for listeners. If listeners are there, they should be counted.

There are other ways to measure how long they listen, which is TSL.

With that logic then make it a few seconds of listening for credit. From a operators view this is great. From an advertisers standpoint they are less guaranteed. I don't see it being beneficial in the long run to the perception of what an advertiser gets. Whether its 5 min or 3 or whatever it seems like the threshold is continually being lowered to make things appear better than they are for someone's dollar.