Study: 92% of Listeners Stick Through Breaks... yeah, right.

[SmokeRing]

THIS is funny. And cigarette companies used to tell us stogies were healthy! And that they didn't spike cigs with nicotine.

So throw this on the pile with other unreliable Industry studies that were sponsored by the Industries themselves.

Arbitron, Coleman Partner On Wall Street Education
As a result of efforts by Arbitron and Coleman, dozens of Wall Street analysts who cover the radio industry are now aware of radio’s ability to maintain high audience levels during commercial breaks, according to a press release from Coleman ... key findings of the study, most notably that radio holds more than 92% of its lead-in audience during the average commercial break.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/radi...article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003409619

 

[klifhanger]

That Sounds like what the Master of Grand illusion would come up with. I agree with you Smokring. The industry surveying themselves? Thats like former Enron executives saying their company was 100 times in the black.

 

[little1]

Why is it that hard to believe? Sure, if you're listening in your car it's easy to change, but I was cleaning out my garage this afternoon. And probably spent a good 3 hours with a grand total of 1 (one) station on. Even if they played spots, or a song I didn't like, I wasn't going to stop down, and flip around trying to find something I liked better...

In the car, sure. At home? Probably not.
Then how many people stick around because they don't want to miss what they're listening for. I've got a friend who listens to Hannity religiously. He's not going to switch, he might miss instructions on what he needs to believe in...

 

[OldGringo]

That Sounds like what the Master of Grand illusion would come up with. I agree with you Smokring. The industry surveying themselves? Thats like former Enron executives saying their company was 100 times in the black.

Actually, what was done is totally credible.

1. Take the minute by minute (to the 5" mark, actually) listening in the People Meter from Arbitron in Houston.
2. Lay on top of the times and stations from the PPM the spot set on each station, from Media Monitor.
3. Track whether listeners change station during stop sets or not.

It isn't anyone "surveying" at all. It is correlating spot monitors with PPM data. Total reliability.

 

[country24]

If I'm listening to the station I want to listen to, why should I go to the trouble of finding another station I like that isn't on a commercial break then go back and change back to the station I was listening to first in three or four minutes? Maybe if a really obnoxious spot comes on, but that doesn't happen very often.

 

[SmokeRing]

Actually, what was done is totally credible. Total reliability.

I'm not so sure that your definitions for the words "credible" and "reliability" are the ones that appear in Webster's, David Eduardo.

You're breathing your own exhaust. Or should I say: you're breathing the radio industry's exhaust. And liking it, apparently.

But aren't Republican strategists paid to say the war in Iraq is going swimmingly? A gig not unlike yours, no?

92% of listeners stick through breaks??? That's nuts and everyone knows it. How many breaks does an average station's TSL account for anyway? One, maybe? If a station's TSL is 7 minutes, am I supposed to believe 92% of its listeners took in a song and a full 5-minute break and THEN tuned out. Or did they listen to 7 minutes of music and then tuned out BECAUSE of the commercial break. Hmmmm... which seems more likely.

 

[klifhanger]

He's aphyxiated. That's why he spins and tries to make trash fabrication look good.

 

[OldGringo]

92% of listeners stick through breaks??? That's nuts and everyone knows it. How many breaks does an average station's TSL account for anyway? One, maybe? If a station's TSL is 7 minutes, am I supposed to believe 92% of its listeners took in a song and a full 5-minute break and THEN tuned out. Or did they listen to 7 minutes of music and then tuned out BECAUSE of the commercial break. Hmmmm... which seems more likely.

The average TSL per incident on 18-54 stations is in the vicinity of 1:40, so the average listener goes through 3 to 4 stopsets. And the tune out times are not tied to the stopsets, so what is controlling the tune in and tune out times is having the time availble to listen to radio. TSL is determined by incidents, not by getting people to listen more at each occasion... as occasions are oimited by such things as getting to work and turning off the car radio.

Only 30% of listening is in the car where it is easy to hit buttons. Otherwise, the lstening spans are long and have no correlation with stopsets.

The average radio listener in 19-54 uses about 18 hours of radio a week, and that (in the diary system) is split between an average of 2.8 stations. The "favorite" one generally gets as much as 60% of all the listening, with the others having less and less.

The #1 station in LA is an AC, and the average listener tunes in 5.3 times a week for 1:39 at a time or just under 8 hours a week. The P1 (first choice) listener, on the other hand, listens 9.5 times a week for an average of 1:30 per time and over 17 total hours a week. In each case, the listener is hearing 3 to 4 stopsets each time they tune in, on average.

However, the study in question was done with the PPM data from Houston, which is granular down to intervals of 5 seconds, and stations can be observed minute by minute and hour by hour to see what happens not just when commercials come on, but when new songs are played or when a particular artist is interviewed.

 

[copydesk2]

It's a moot point. Radio's going to have to find a way to present commercial messages in a more appealing manner or risk losing more and more of its audience to alternative media.

 

[SmokeRing]

Only 30% of listening is in the car where it is easy to hit buttons. Otherwise, the lstening spans are long and have no correlation with stopsets.

Well, first I don't believe this statistic for a second. Another stat put out by the Radio Industry?

But, even if we assume it to be true, a good percentage of your 30% of total radio listeners are almost certainly punching buttons and avoiding commercials, which makes it statistically impossible for 92% of all radio listeners to be sitting through commercial breaks.

Elsewhere in your post, you cite individual demos and successes of specific stations to try to make a case for this bogus study. But the study's purpose is to allow radio sales people to go out and tell clients that 92% of listeners (all listeners--not a narrow demo) are sticking through breaks.

There's a word for this. It's called "innumeracy." Look it up:
http://www.amazon.com/Innumeracy-Ma..._bbs_sr_1/002-0278264-7955273?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

[OldGringo]

Only 30% of listening is in the car where it is easy to hit buttons. Otherwise, the lstening spans are long and have no correlation with stopsets.

Well, first I don't believe this statistic for a second. Another stat put out by the Radio Industry?

You can do your own survey if you like. You will find that less than a third of the time spent listening to the radio by all listeners is in the car.

Arbitron, which enumerates the location of listening, shows this... with some markets as low as 25% of listening.

 

[OldGringo]

Elsewhere in your post, you cite individual demos and successes of specific stations to try to make a case for this bogus study. But the study's purpose is to allow radio sales people to go out and tell clients that 92% of listeners (all listeners--not a narrow demo) are sticking through breaks.

Actually, this is a study of PPM measured listening. The PPM is not used for sales, and does not yet have MRC accreditation. The study was done to show what you can show if ypou have more granular data.

 

[klifhanger]

The above was "rewritten" from another post of another poster on another site. Time and date stamp. Master of Grand Illusion Chief Plagerizer.

 

[SmokeRing]

Actually, this is a study of PPM measured listening. The PPM is not used for sales

Then why are Coleman and Arbitron pitching this bogus 92% number to "dozens of Wall Street analysts who cover the radio industry." And "to the board of directors of the RAB, local advertising clubs and more than a dozen radio groups in the United States and Canada."

This is just the tip of the misinformation iceberg, David. Radio A.E.'s will be pounding the pavement with this stat next week.

92% is obviously B.S. And, again, whether I accept your overall car listening percentages at 25% or 30%, they both make the 92% claim statistically impossible.

 

[a regular listener]

Well I am not one of you "elitist" radio industry insiders just as my name implies "a regular listener" and I stick thru most breaks with the exception of the stupid Avery air conditioning commercials. When they come on I usually hit the preset. I listen to 570 all day and all night. It is always on in my garage, office and home office.

 

[TheRover]

All Commerical breaks are not the same . . .

I stay through breaks on talk radio, usually.

But, the extra-obnoxious, in-your-face adds that stations like The Bone and KZPS hurl my way are insufferable ! And, besides, the payoff of staying through the adds on those stations is minimal at best !

 

[OldGringo]

The above was "rewritten" from another post of another poster on another site. Time and date stamp. Master of Grand Illusion Chief Plagerizer.

No, it was not.

 

[OldGringo]

Then why are Coleman and Arbitron pitching this bogus 92% number to "dozens of Wall Street analysts who cover the radio industry." And "to the board of directors of the RAB, local advertising clubs and more than a dozen radio groups in the United States and Canada."

... Coleman is not pitching anything. Arbitron "bought" the study from Coleman, and the are presenting it to investors and radio groups to show that new media has not diminished the effectiveness of radio as an ad medium. It also helps Arbitron justify the 60% increase in costs to subscribers for the PPM service.

Personally, I think that stations are pretty much drinking the Kool Aid on this one; listeners who stay with terrestrial radio have already "accepted" commercials. Those who have left are already gone, so this only prooves that the remaining listeners tolerate stopsets, not that they will continue to do so.

This is just the tip of the misinformation iceberg, David. Radio A.E.'s will be pounding the pavement with this stat next week.

No, they won't because the data has not been disseminated at the station level yet. And it is based on one market.

92% is obviously B.S. And, again, whether I accept your overall car listening percentages at 25% or 30%, they both make the 92% claim statistically impossible.

Actually, most people who have a favorite station... and especially, a favorite morning show, do not dial push. Only some very specific demos do that.

 

[klifhanger]

MASTER OF GRAND ILLUSIION " NO IT WAS NOT"

tsk tsk..It was Plagerizer. Nyah!(p Not on the RI Boards as you well know. sheesh.

 

[LeChat]

THIS is funny. And cigarette companies used to tell us stogies were healthy! And that they didn't spike cigs with nicotine.

So throw this on the pile with other unreliable Industry studies that were sponsored by the Industries themselves.

Arbitron, Coleman Partner On Wall Street Education
As a result of efforts by Arbitron and Coleman, dozens of Wall Street analysts who cover the radio industry are now aware of radio’s ability to maintain high audience levels during commercial breaks, according to a press release from Coleman ... key findings of the study, most notably that radio holds more than 92% of its lead-in audience during the average commercial break.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/radi...article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003409619

There was a radio station that offered the music and programming I liked. I never once switched to another station during commercial breaks. My home and car radio were always set to that station and that was all I listened to. Now, that station is gone, when I listen to terrestrial radio in the car, I do nothing but switch during programming and during commercials. But I have a satellite option, so I am not forced to do that much. I am sure that radio experts will assure you that people are not loyal to stations they like. But I promise you that is wrong. Give the public what it wants, and your bottom line will prosper. Take it away--and away the audience will go.