Radio has no control over what Nielsen does. As you can read from the various articles in this thread, all radio can do is react and adapt. Advertisers pay Nielsen for this information. If they feel it's less useful, then they will tell them. Or they will stop advertising. Either way, radio stations have no control. We had no control when they switched to PPM, and it clearly hurt radio in a big way then. The REAL measure of radio is not in ratings, but in results. That's the only part we can control, and that's our pitch to advertisers. We can deliver results. And we do. Every day.
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Nielsen Lowers the Bar … to Three Minutes
- Thread starter Kasper
- Start date
Radio has no control over what Nielsen does. As you can read from the various articles in this thread, all radio can do is react and adapt. Advertisers pay Nielsen for this information. If they feel it's less useful, then they will tell them. Or they will stop advertising. Either way, radio stations have no control. We had no control when they switched to PPM, and it clearly hurt radio in a big way then. The REAL measure of radio is not in ratings, but in results. That's the only part we can control, and that's our pitch to advertisers. We can deliver results. And we do. Every day.
Not necessarily. What they might gain in occasional listener station switches will be lost by bad positioning of stopsets.
Interesting. Because what you describe as the best system (2 minute breaks, four times an hour in the center of each quarter hour) is exactly what the local FM Top 40 station (in Tacoma, WA) did in the late seventies and early eighties. What's old is new again. Maybe.
Nielsen Officially Moving to 3-Minute Qualifier for PPM Collection
"This enhancement to Nielsen radio currency is a direct result of the engagement and feedback we’ve received from our broadcast, agency, and advertiser clients."
barrettmedia.com
Implementation of the new rule is set for January. Stations will get both the 3 and 5 minute data for November through the Holiday book, and it will be 3 minutes only starting in January.
Most stations cover the crossovers ( :15, :30, :45) with their breaks. The reason is it's easier to get continuous listening in a 15 minute period (back in the day the listening had to be continuous to get credit), vs letting people leave and hoping they come back. A lot of the automation systems also "reset" at the top of the hour, and will drop any scheduled songs/spots that didn't air within that hour. That's why you don't see a lot of stations running breaks at the top of the hour, like you do at :15, :30 and :45.
I personally prefer longer stop sets and longer music sweeps. Playing 2 or 3 minutes of commercials every 2 or 3 songs would drive me crazy.
Here's another article about the 3 minute rule, starting in January, and what it's likely to mean for spot breaks:
www.insideradio.com
The article says although it will begin in January, most advertisers will wait until they have 3 month's worth of numbers.
What Nielsen’s Three-Minute Listening Qualifier Means For Radio.
Nielsen’s move to a three-minute qualifier for listening sessions in the 48 PPM markets will capture more listening occasions and more audience impressions. A significant methodological change in how ratings
The article says although it will begin in January, most advertisers will wait until they have 3 month's worth of numbers.
When did stations stop breaking at :20 and :50?Nielsen Officially Moving to 3-Minute Qualifier for PPM Collection
"This enhancement to Nielsen radio currency is a direct result of the engagement and feedback we’ve received from our broadcast, agency, and advertiser clients."
Implementation of the new rule is set for January. Stations will get both the 3 and 5 minute data for November through the Holiday book, and it will be 3 minutes only starting in January.
Most stations cover the crossovers ( :15, :30, :45) with their breaks. The reason is it's easier to get continuous listening in a 15 minute period (back in the day the listening had to be continuous to get credit), vs letting people leave and hoping they come back. A lot of the automation systems also "reset" at the top of the hour, and will drop any scheduled songs/spots that didn't air within that hour. That's why you don't see a lot of stations running breaks at the top of the hour, like you do at :15, :30 and :45.
I personally prefer longer stop sets and longer music sweeps. Playing 2 or 3 minutes of commercials every 2 or 3 songs would drive me crazy.
Not sure what you mean. The new system doesn't start until January. Then stations will decide if they'll change how they break.
I liked that and I listened more because of it. When they ended the two-minute promise, I stopped listening.
15 years ago
When PPM started. Better results. A lot of diary markets still break around :20 and :50.
I did not know this. I’m still in a diary market. When do PPM stations typically break?
Either around :12 and :42 or at :26 and :56 where I'm at
Typically the goal is to get an eight minute stopset split into two quarter hours so those quarter hours still have 10-12 minutes of music/content.
When PPM was introduced here in Charlotte, back in 2010, several of the CBS Radio stations experimented with 3 shorter stop sets (4 mins a piece) an hour instead of 2 longer ones (6 mins a piece). It hurt the ratings and TSL (and I personally hated it), and they went back to 2 longer stop sets an hour within 6 months. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Nearly all the stations here break around :12 and :42.
I know some stations that tried to do :26 and :56 initially, but had to stop because Wide Orbit (and some other systems) would cut off their spots at the top of the hour if it was in automatic.
Interestingly, the station where I worked for most of the ‘90s had breaks at :12 and :42 (with an optional break at :27). I guess things have come full circle.
You're also talking primarily about music stations. News/Talk/Sports didn't follow that. And not all music stations either.
The smart ones do
Depends on the format. Back in the "Diary Days" in even the biggest markets, Beautiful Music stations broke for 2 minutes at :00, :15, :30, and :45. And those stations were generally in the top 5 or 6 in their markets well into the 80's.
While Arbitron did not become the one-and-only ratings survey for sales until the earlier 70's, that system of stopsets worked well for that format.
(The other surveys, Pulse and Hooper, were aided recall, and did not have diaries)
That may have worked back in the day, and may still work in diary markets that measure recall and not actual listening. I’ve never seen it work in PPM markets.
I’d personally prefer one 12 minute stop set an hour vs breaking it up. I might flip the station once an hour vs twice, and I think that would lead to longer TSL. I also hate liners after every song that remind me of the “commercial free music sweep” and pointless jock chatter. Shut up and play the music.
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