If I get this PPM Crap and Listen to Fun 107 or a R.I. Station ( Hot 1O6, Pro-FM,95.5 BRU and 94 HJY ), I don't count as a listener. How STUPID is that !! That's like going out to vote and your vote don't count. PPM system is Terrible !!
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PPM System is Terrible
- Thread starter N.E. Streetz
- Start date
...That's not how it works. Like, not even close.
Say you're Joe Somebody and you live in one of the counties that's part of the Boston Arbitron market. You qualify and you get a PPM. Any station you listen to that encodes a PPM signal is recorded by your device. Your listening to that station then counts toward that station's ratings in the Boston market.
That's the way it's always worked, nothing has changed in that sense.
Say you're Joe Somebody and you live in one of the counties that's part of the Boston Arbitron market. You qualify and you get a PPM. Any station you listen to that encodes a PPM signal is recorded by your device. Your listening to that station then counts toward that station's ratings in the Boston market.
That's the way it's always worked, nothing has changed in that sense.
Raises an interesting question... does DX have no effect on the PPM? (Such as catching FM DX during tropo/e-skip or AM skywave)
Most ( maybe all ) out of market radio stations are not going to pay Boston PPM market fee so if I ( or anyone ) listen to Out of Market Radio stations, I will not be counted.
N.E. Streetz said:
[sarcasm mode on]
How dare you listen to a Rhode Island station in Massachusetts!
Your understanding of voting is correct and ithe PPM is not about the "listeners", anyway.
It's about eardrum exposure metrics for sales rate determination.
Yes, you don't count. Have a good day.
[endmode]
N.E. Streetz said:
You're still counted, they just don't buy the numbers. It's always been that way, nothing is new.
Providence stations have never bought the Boston book, and I don't know of any Boston station that buys the Providence book. Never have, never will. Why? Because they don't target these markets, and the advertising doesn't target these markets. It was never "allowed" for Providence stations to sell ads based on Boston numbers without buying the Boston book.
No advertiser is buying a Providence station based on their rankers in Boston, and vice versa. In that sense, you're right. Providence advertisers don't care about Boston listeners. However, this isn't something new. This has been the way things are since the creation of commercial radio in the 20's.
N.E. Streetz said:
No far out of market station ever subscribes to a distant market ratings book, diary, PPM or even Pulse or Hooper. Why would they? There is no reason to pay money for something that is useless.
Stations on the outskirts of a major market, often called "rimshot" stations, will sometimes subscribe to the larger market report if they think they have enough chances of selling advertising based on the ratings.
The listening to any station, distant or local, inside a radio survey market area, is registered (always in the diary and if encoded in the PPM) no matter what.
33 years ago, a San Juan station showed up in the New York book... probably the best example of how this sort of thing works.
4CX1000A said:
That's really dumb.
Stations that do not encode but are on the air end up subtracting points from the total Persons Using Radio. That makes radio look worse as a way to reach people.
If a station is not subscribed, it is probably because it does not need ratings to sell time. However, if it does not encode, it does the whole industry harm.
Why, if a station does not believe ratings are valuable enough to buy, should the station be upset if it can't get a peek for free?
4CX1000A said:
It's a just & appropriate protest of Arbtron's new policy. If enough stations turn off their PPM encoding signal, then maybe Arbitron may lose its accrediting in that market from the Media Ratings Council or whatever its called. But be careful, once a station signs an agreement with Arbitron, it may have to keep the PPM encoding signal up & running for awhile. Stations should check their contract before turning off, so they know WHEN to legally turn it off.
JIBGUY said:
The Media Rating Council, as far as I know, does not make accreditation conditional on the encoding or not of all stations.
http://mediaratingcouncil.org/
In fact, more than 80% of the PPM markets are still not accredited.
Since having all stations encoded makes radio, as an industry, look better, there is no reason to not encode. Since it costs nothing to encode for stations inside a PPM MSA, I can't see why anyone wouldn't.
I like the diary system a lot better ( my opinion ).JIBGUY said:
Let's ruin new and small radio companies who can't afford to pay these stupid fees. PPM system stinks. More layoffs is on its way.
N.E. Streetz said:
Ratings have always been expensive because conducting a survey is enormously costly.
Small stations, such as AM daytimers, fringe area Class A FM's, etc., are not going to get enough listenership to make buying ratings of any benefit. That is because ratings are used principally to sell to ad agencies and larger clients, and those clients don't buy "small" radio stations with small audiences save very rare exceptions.
Whether we are talking about Pulse and Hooper ratings in the 60's or Arbitron today, a significant budget item for stations that do compete for "transactional" business (sales based on cost per spot weighed against the audience that hears each spot).
Arbitron ratings are not a required purchase, nor are they a "fee" like music performance licenses.
N.E. Streetz said:
Yes, it measures memory and awareness quite nicely.
It does not, however, measure actual hearing of stations as well as passive electronic measurement.
Of course, in the "other" two hundred markets, it is still alive and accredited.
Well the fee must have went WAY Up Because WBRU in Providence ( was a Top Ratings station in Providence ) is no longer in this PPM Rating system in Providence.
N.E. Streetz said:
Arbitron subscribers do get WBRU's numbers in their books. The 6+ beauty pageant just aren't being released to the public. Also, considering that BRU is a student-operated station, even if commercial, they probably don't sell the book in the first place and don't feel that they have to subscribe.
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