ratings explained?

[RBW]

As much as I know about the biz, ratings (in general) have always baffled me. Never once have I been involved in radio ratings... or been given a diary or whatever they use these days. Who are these people anyway?? Why is it that the majority of those chosen to participate seem to favor country music? Are these people chosen because of demographics they fall into, or is it completely random? --- which if not the latter, might explain why the same stations are always on top! To me it just seems odd that if it's totally random, that in 1 book, WAJZ might be higher, then in another, it might be WTRY or WFLY. To live and die by ratings has always seemed like more a scam than anything else... especially to stations like The Buzz whom you must imagine is listened to by thousands who'll never have the chance to make their habits heard.

Not to beat a dead horse.......... but one more analogy is the dying smooth jazz format, which 104.9 used to be. That format has an extremely loyal audience. But again, it would seem that most of those involved in filling out diaries, never listened to it... but those that did (and screamed & yelled when the plug was pulled) weren't given the chance to participate.

Can anyone explain? (then i'll shut-up) :-X

 

[callahan broadcasting]

Your are absolutely, positively, 100% right. The current ratings method sucks. Great stations with great audiences get screwed over book after book. Good radio people lose their jobs because of these flukey books. Unfortunately, it's what the industry has in place right now. In my opinion, they still use the diary system because radio is so portable. You (can) listen to the radio when you wake up in the morning at home, in your car on the way to work (or wherever you're going), at work, while you shop, while you work out, while you do yard work, in your car on the way home from wherever you were going, at home at night, in the shower. How are you supposed to track that? Does a radio station get ratings for being on at a deli that sees 500 customers a day? They're all exposed to that radio station. From everything I've heard the PPM is supposed to help improve this faulty system. Until it's here full-time, world-wide, the radio stations will have to suffer the scourge of the diary system.

 

[Element9]

Smarter radio minds than mine (media expert John Parikhal, PhD) have serious issues with PPM. Things like "incidental listening" and "peripheral listening" can boost a station's ratings. For example, a 23 year old guy stops at The Sammich Shoppe for lunch ever day, eats at a small table while scanning his iPhone for messages while the The Sammich Shoppe plays an AC station. The PPM picks up the AC station's coding and as a result, the AC gets a bump Men 18-24. This isn't incidental. Consultants and PDs, even Arbitron, concede it happens. The diary is ridiculously imperfect, especially in today's fragmented media environment, but it may be some time before markets the size of Albany transition to PPM, so smart programmers will continue to "play to win" in the diary system. They'd be manipulating the programming to do the same if they were competing in the PPM system.

 

[Mark Vanness]

There is no perfect system, unless of course the ratings are in your favor, then your sales team can use them out sell the competition. Back in the day there used to be a company that would call you at home and ask about your daily listening habits, it worked pretty well, but they didn't have the monitary muscle to keep the company alive. So we have what we have and use the info it provides with a grain of salt! Anyone that uses Arbitron data to blow up radio stations or make major programming changes is foolish.

 

[Reporter]

Back in the day there used to be a company that would call you at home and ask about your daily listening habits, it worked pretty well, but they didn't have the monitary muscle to keep the company alive.

They called me. Good point. They haven't called in years...

 

[Element9]

Birch and Pulse were telephone retrieval type surveys, each had inherent flaws. "Can you tell me the name, call letters or frequency, of the radio stations you listened to in the last 12 hours?" They'd be facing an uphill battle these days as fewer homes have land lines and more people, even upper demos, are moving to unlisted cell phones. This is one of the problems Arbitron faces because their initial client screening prior to diary and PPM placement is done by phone.

 

[RBW]

Thanks all!

Your comments & remarks have verified my suspicions.

Imperfect to be sure.... but difficult to measure from any angle.