Single / Total line reporting.... the real facts
Here is a full, non-copyright, description of Total Line Reporting... which allows 100% simulcasts to appear as "one station" which enhances the ability of time buyers to see a multi-staiton combo as one entity by combineing the listening to each signal in one line in all Arbitron products.
From
www.arbitron.com
Total Line Reporting
Effective Winter 2006 Survey
Arbitron is making an important change in the reporting of audience estimates for 100 percent simulcast radio stations effective with the Winter 2006 survey. This page provides background on the change and details of the planned implementation.
Questions? Read Simulcast Total Line Reporting FAQ.
Overview
Arbitron has recognized that simulcasting has become a significant operational and marketing strategy for many radio broadcasting companies. Effective with the Winter 2006 survey, Arbitron will report 100 percent simulcast stations through a single estimate line in all applications and reports.
Arbitron’s new simulcast policy will:
Be available to stations that simulcast all content, including all commercials, 100 percent of the time stations are on the air.
Be able to accommodate partnerships of two or more radio stations in a simulcast.
Report the estimates for simulcast partnerships through a single estimate line in all Arbitron local market reporting services for simulcast partnerships that request single estimate line reporting.
Allow the partnership to select the station from among the simulcast partners under whose call letters the partnership’s combined listening will be reported.
The individual estimates for radio stations that are a part of a simulcast partnership that elects Total Line Reporting will no longer be accessible through any of Arbitron’s applications and reports.
This new simulcast reporting policy will completely replace the current simulcast station policies. The revised policy provides consistency in the reporting of audience estimates for simulcast radio stations across all Arbitron local reporting services; it also eliminates the two-station limit on simulcast partnerships.
Simulcast partnerships will be identified on the "Station Information" page of the book, the "Special Notices" page of the book, and on a special resource page on the
www.arbitron.com Web site that will have information on all simulcast radio stations.
The following details the planned implementation.
Station Information Collection
The current Station Information Form will be redesigned to remove the seven-day simulcast grid.
A new section will be added where the station can indicate that it simulcasts 100 percent all content, including commercials, with one or more stations for all 12 weeks of the survey period. There will be space to list the call letters of the other stations in the partnership. The station will designate one of the partner stations as the “primary” station (the station that will be reported in Arbitron’s local reporting services).
Upon completion of processing station information each survey, Arbitron will send a letter to an appropriate corporate contact for each combo that has indicated 100 percent simulcast status. This letter will ask for reconfirmation of the submitted simulcasting information and will provide a reminder that only the primary station will be reported in Arbitron’s local radio reporting services.
Processing Listening Data for Simulcast Stations
Diary entries will continue to be credited to individual radio stations during diary processing as we currently do. Credit for simulcast partner stations will be “flipped” or recredited to the primary station of the simulcast partnership prior to the processing of audience estimates.
Reporting Estimates for Simulcast Partnerships
Audience estimates for simulcast partnerships that meet Minimum Reporting Standards (MRS) will be reported under the call letters of the primary station of the partnership. The MRS will apply to the combined estimates. Stations must simulcast for all 12 weeks of a quarterly survey period to be reported through a single estimate line.
The secondary stations that are a part of a simulcast partnership will not be included in the lineup in any of Arbitron’s reporting services, and audience estimates for these individual radio stations will not be available in any application or report.
Simulcast stations will be flagged on the "Station Information" page of the Radio Market Report. Subscribers will be referred to the "Special Notices" page of the Radio Market Report for a listing of the stations that are included in each simulcast partnership that qualifies for the Radio Market Report. There will not be any special footnotes or flagging of simulcast partnerships on audience estimates pages or reports.
The simulcast resource page on the Arbitron Web site will list all simulcast stations, identify the primary station in a simulcast partnership, the primary station’s home Metro, and (if applicable) the primary station’s home DMA®.
Changes to simulcast status reported to Arbitron during the first month of a survey period will be reflected in ArbitrendsSM markets with the release of Phase 2 Arbitrends, effective with the Spring 2006 survey.
Reporting Previous Survey Estimates for Simulcast Partnerships
The historical information used for trend reports and multibook average estimates will always reflect the audience estimates originally published for the primary station of the partnership. This will occur regardless of whether the simulcast was in effect during the prior survey(s). Consequently, during transition periods, trends and multibook averages for simulcast stations may include surveys that were simulcast and surveys where the station was a stand-alone. When a simulcast partnership stops simulcasting and the stations return to independent broadcasting, the individual stations will not have any historical data associated with them for the surveys during which they were simulcast.
The Appendix to this document contains a simplified illustration of how trend reporting and multibook averaging would work with our new simulcast reporting process.
Or, use Total Line Reporting Averaging Worksheet (XLS file).
Verification of Simulcast Partnerships
Radio stations will need to sign a statement that they will be 100 percent simulcast, including commercials, throughout the report period and anticipate being 100 percent simulcast for the foreseeable future.
Radio stations will be able to notify Arbitron if a reported simulcast partnership, to the station’s knowledge, breaks simulcast during the survey period. In response, we would then request appropriate additional assurances from the purported simulcast partnership.
This enhancement to Arbitron’s reporting process to better reflect listening to simulcast radio stations was reviewed with the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council at our recent (August) meeting and received the Council’s endorsement.
Arbitron recognizes that this new approach for reporting estimates for simulcast radio partnerships may not be suitable for all simulcast operations. Radio stations will have the option to continue to be reported independently. Stations that choose to be reported as stand-alone operations will not receive total line estimates in any Arbitron reporting application.
Please contact your Arbitron representative if you have questions or would like additional detail about simulcast reporting.
