PPM has destroyed WVON's ratings

[Link]

This station is now off 70%+ from pre ppm times.

 

[BRNout]

Hmmmm, what if those ratings are true? Was it really PPM that destroyed WVON's ratings? Or was the real issue that WVON's listenership was over reported in the diaries?

You can argue that blacks are not being adequately represented in the distribution of PPM units, but that's an uphill battle in this market. Just look at V103's stellar ratings since PPM was rolled out. Soul 106.3 doesn't seem to be suffering either. WGCI ticked up a bit and Power was stable. That would seem to support Arbitron's point of view.

Perhaps nobody's listening to WVON? You may not like that, but blaming PPM makes about as much sense as blaming Bush for it.

 

[[email protected]]

I've got to agree with BRNout on this one. There is enough evidence to support the fact that the PPM system does give a more realistic report of listening habits as compared to the old Diary method.

WVON is broadcasting on a frequency that very few people ever venture up to. In fact some older radios can't even pick up that frequency. Secondly the signal coverage isn't very solid and at night it's bothered by skywave signals creating noise and interference. Lastly, as has been said on this board many times...compelling programming is what attracts listeners....does WVON offer compelling programming to it's audience ? Or does their target audience find other stations more appealing.

Seems like a bit of market research is needed for WVON to determine what it's programming should be and maybe an infusion of money that is put into Billboards to tell people that WVON is still out there. :-\

 

[DX]

When PPM first unrolled, I suspected it might disproportionately hurt urban "heritage" stations. Why? Because people, out of loyalty, might report much longer time spent listening than in reality.

We saw a classic case of this with Memphis Black stations some years ago: 1,000-watt, Black-owned, WLOK was facing off against 50,000-watt, Black-formatted - but corporate-owned - WDIA, then Sondering Broadcasting, followed by Viacom.

Considering the David vs. Goliath signal imbalance, WLOK was getting pretty good numbers against WDIA. We saw anecdotal evidence that some pretty regular WDIA listeners - aware of WLOK's Black ownership - were writing in WLOK just to support the local guy.

Obviously, PPM eliminates such boosterism. However, one wonders whether weaker signals fail to register with PPM in certain places at certain times. If so, that would represent a technological challenge.

 

[davideduardo]

When PPM first unrolled, I suspected it might disproportionately hurt urban "heritage" stations. Why? Because people, out of loyalty, might report much longer time spent listening than in reality.

In nearly 40 years of diary reviews, I never saw evidence of "voting" for a station by putting down longer than perceived listening spans.

What I saw was more entries for the more famous stations and fewer for the secondary ones. And I saw lots of rounding.

So there would be an entry for "WXXX" for "6 AM to 9 AM." 3 hours. 12 quarter hours.

What really happened was that the person hit the snooze button twice, with real listening starting 20 minutes later. Then there was the 20 minutes in the shower. The 10 minutes walking the dog. The 5 minutes taking out the trash. The 20 minutes taking the kids to the school bus. The few minutes from kitchen to car to go to work. The 10 minutes in the car listening to the station with the traffic reports. The 10 minutes getting coffee on the way, the 15 minutes when the annoying sports guy is on that you tuned the other station, and the 10 minutes before 9 that you parked the car and got out and went to punch in on time.

So the 3 hours was really 47 minutes all along. It's simply easier to fill in a diary with the equivalent of "I listened from when I got up till when I started work." The fact is that there are distractions, interruptions, and even usage of other stations that never got into the diary.

Obviously, PPM eliminates such boosterism.

It never existed.

However, one wonders whether weaker signals fail to register with PPM in certain places at certain times. If so, that would represent a technological challenge.

The PPM does not decode the signal, it extracts or "hears" a unique code embedded in the audio. If a listener can hear it, the PPM can hear it. The signal strength, band, etc. make no difference.

 

[davideduardo]

Hmmmm, what if those ratings are true? Was it really PPM that destroyed WVON's ratings? Or was the real issue that WVON's listenership was over reported in the diaries?

All high TSL and low cume formats got a kiss in the diary, while a person's second or third favorite station tended to be under-represented there.

 

[DX]

Okay Dave...

We agree to disagree on "boosterism". I heard differently from our programming folks.

On the PPM, you say if a listener "heard" the station Define "heard".

 

[davideduardo]

Okay Dave...

We agree to disagree on "boosterism". I heard differently from our programming folks.

That's a common reasoning or excuse for "I can't figure it out" diary behaviour. How many visits to Arbitron and how many total diaries reviewed has the person you "heard it from" made?

On the PPM, you say if a listener "heard" the station Define "heard".

If audio is loud enough for the human ear to hear, it is loud enough for the PPM that person is carrying to detect.

There are precise technical white papers on the Arbitron website, but this simplified explanation is really the bottom line.

 

[audioguy]

Something else to think about: awhile back it was rumored that one of the reasons WGN shut off their HD signal was that the hiss was causing the PPM not to register correctly. I have no idea if this is true or not, but if it is, this is really something to think about.

I really wonder why WVON is even bothering with HD on such a marginal signal, and who in their target demo is listening on an HD AM radio anyway???

I wish they would shut it off. The hiss isn't helping under marginal signal conditions.

 

[[email protected]]

I really wonder why WVON is even bothering with HD on such a marginal signal, and who in their target demo is listening on an HD AM radio anyway???

I wish they would shut it off. The hiss isn't helping under marginal signal conditions.

What some people don't know or maybe forget is that WVON only rents the 1690 Khz signal from Clear Channel, that signal isn't owned by WVON...it's just the audio programming that belongs to WVON.

So it's Clear Channels call as to whether the IBOC is ON or OFF of that signal and not WVON's.

Maybe Clear Channel will come to it's senses some day and shut it off. :




W

 

[davideduardo]

Something else to think about: awhile back it was rumored that one of the reasons WGN shut off their HD signal was that the hiss was causing the PPM not to register correctly. I have no idea if this is true or not, but if it is, this is really something to think about.

That sounds like an excuse, likely from a company that is in bankruptcy. The issue of HD has never come up at one of the Arbitron consultant fly ins nor has it been raised in the frequent conference calls about methodolgy, accreditation, etc.

 

[noknownuser]

How about WVON just being horribly programmed? 5 minutes of news at the TOH, then 5 minutes of spots, then 90 second of a bumper until you get into content.

 

[DanStrassberg]

If audio is loud enough for the human ear to hear, it is loud enough for the PPM that person is carrying to detect.

If the sampled person is listening on earbuds or--even better--on circumaural headphones, how does the PPM strapped around his/her waist "hear" the code? Does the person have to strap the PPM around his/her head???

Seems as though the PPM function ought to be performed by software running on a Walkman-like device that incorporates a built-in radio receiver, except that Arbitron had spent so much money on technology that was obsolete by the time it was deployed that the company balked at doing what made sense. And BTW, the advantage of embedding the PPM function in hardware that a lot of people already carry around would have _enormous_ benefits in recruiting sample populations of a more reasonable size. Arbitron has spent a fortune defending its munuscule samples, but from what I can tell, its arcane, convoluted arguments continue to make sense only to those who have a vested interest in believing them.

 

[[email protected]]

You've got a questionable ratings system being used to sell a product that has no guarantees...pretty amazing eh? ;D

 

[davideduardo]

If the sampled person is listening on earbuds or--even better--on circumaural headphones, how does the PPM strapped around his/her waist "hear" the code? Does the person have to strap the PPM around his/her head???

No, there is a plug between the earbuds and the device that connects the PPM.

Seems as though the PPM function ought to be performed by software running on a Walkman-like device that incorporates a built-in radio receiver, except that Arbitron had spent so much money on technology that was obsolete by the time it was deployed that the company balked at doing what made sense.

All metered listening devices "listen" to the enviornmental audio, whether via our US meter or several used or proposed in Europe... incorporated in watches or in pager-like cases. And all detect embedded codes in the audio source.

Even the very strict MRC believes in the technology as being sound... the issues are all sample related.

And BTW, the advantage of embedding the PPM function in hardware that a lot of people already carry around would have _enormous_ benefits in recruiting sample populations of a more reasonable size. Arbitron has spent a fortune defending its munuscule samples, but from what I can tell, its arcane, convoluted arguments continue to make sense only to those who have a vested interest in believing them.

Various attempts to use cell phones have failed, including an on-air test in Houston. Arbitron is developing technology to use cell phones, but the main impediment is the lack of standardization of the microphones in different devices.

The PPM has been in development since the early 90's. The main impediments are component size and battery life. Early prototypes were over a pound in weight. Today, the battery will last over 36 hours (it's supposed to be docked daily) and the memory can record 12 ID pulses a minute for that period, and the meter has a motion detector, knows if it at home or away, etc.

Even the meter's severest critics have no complaints with the meter technology... the complaints are in regards to how the respondents are selected, trained and retained. There is no ground for complaint about the sample size since Arbitron will gladly increase the sample size if stations will pay more... already the meter costs about 60% more than the diary method; the sample is exactly what was proposed and signed up for by the existing clients. In today's economy, radio is not about to pay for larger samples.

 

[drded]

Clear Channel owns a big chunk of Ibiquity, so they are not going to shut off their own revenue stream.

Also, I started in radio in 1964 before I retired a few years back. Anyone thinking the diaries are not tainted in many ways really needs to rethink that position. Just as Billboard had to revise the charting methods it used to eliminate inaccuracy, so the radio industry needs the same. Several rating services have come and gone. Veterans may remember some that could easily be bought, i.e. if you bought the service your station got higher ratings, if you didn't... The diaries have been tainted for many years by age, ethnicity, ownership, and who knows what else. PPM is an attempt to eliminate the tainting.

Dave

 

[davideduardo]

Clear Channel owns a big chunk of Ibiquity, so they are not going to shut off their own revenue stream.

Clear Channel owns a tiny piece of iBiquity, which is mostly owned by venture capital and investment bank interests. Early on, most of the major broadcast groups made small investments (to put it in perspective, around the cost a good station would incur building one good studio in LA or New York) in iBiquity as seed capital. The idea was never to make money, but, rather, to encourage digital terrestrial.

Several rating services have come and gone.

Hooper, Trendex, Pulse, Nielsen Radio (in the 50's), Mediastat, Mediatrend, Accuratings, Mobiltrak, Burke, Birch, Audits & Surveys, Arbitron, Eastlan, etc.

Veterans may remember some that could easily be bought, i.e. if you bought the service your station got higher ratings, if you didn't...

I remember bad broadcasters saying that... as an excuse for bad ratings. There was never any evidence of purposeful distortion.

The diaries have been tainted for many years by age, ethnicity, ownership, and who knows what else.

Not really. Age projections are proportional to each age group's percentage in the market, in any survey. Ownership has nothing to do with it, and ethnicity is similarly proportional to the market percentages.

The PPM uses a panel and passive measurement, but other than that all surveys simply measure a proportional sample and project the results into the universe.

 

[welovepetemar]

There's Hope. Ever since the CEO of Arbitron got fired, several congressmen are investigating the legalities and measurement of PPM. Hopefully they'll find out that PPM is a big hoax, undermines minority radio programming, and somehow fix the way radio ratings are measured.

 

[TheBigA]

There's Hope. Ever since the CEO of Arbitron got fired, several congressmen are investigating the legalities and measurement of PPM.

You consider that "hope?" How many of them actually know anything about radio or audience measurement?

 

[davideduardo]

There's Hope. Ever since the CEO of Arbitron got fired,

Technically, the person in quesition resigned. While the effect is the same, there is a distinction.

And the change, for whatever cause, actually reinfoces Arbitron's position that it operates with integrity and is making a good faith effort to bring every PPM market to the standard of the three that are now accredited.

several congressmen are investigating the legalities and measurement of PPM.

Sen. Menendez of New Jersey has been involved in the PPM "controversy" with ethnic broadcasters for the better part of two years; I can recall being next to him at a meeting in New York with representatives of SBA and Arbitron at the end of summer, 2008!

And there is no investigation or issue with the "legality" of the PPM. It is legal to do ratings. There is investigation of whether the proportionality of all groups in the sample matches the composition of the universe under measurement, and there are many opinions on that.

Hopefully they'll find out that PPM is a big hoax,

There is no conspiracy theory in action here. Nothing to see, move on.

The methodology, that is, the meter, is highly accepted and has been in use for TV for decades. The issues have to do with panel recruitment and maintenance.

undermines minority radio programming,

Gee, the COO of Radio One said that his issues with PPM were resolved by improving the programming of the Radio One stations; the PPM revealed deficiencies in programming at a more granular level and allowed a plan to be enacted to fix them. In Houston, the two Radio One stations are often #1 and #2 in sales demos these days.

and somehow fix the way radio ratings are measured.

While the pressure on Arbitron from even the lesser-informed complainers will likely make the PPM service better and obligate Arbitron to examine all posible recruit methodologies and panel maintenance techniques, the fact is that electronic passive measurement is today's best option, just as the diary was when Arbitron started measuring radio in 1965.