Throw Out Arbitron

[TakeItFromMe]

Lots of smiles at Galaxy as staff members keep jobs and some get raises thanks to the elimination of Arbitron. I used to work in Syracuse and no one ever believed the ratings anyway. So why pay for them? Take the money and build a better radio station, pay your people more.

I am sure Galaxy is putting some of the saved dollars to the bottom line, but it is nice to see that jobs will be saved and that someone had the guts to say NO to arbitron and their increasing rates. When the PPM arrives I can tell you a lot of people will lose their jobs in the TOP-40 markets (where I currently work...miss NY though!) as stations figure out how to deal with 60% increases in ratings costs.

Seems Galaxy and 100 other stations may have found the answer in this unknown ratings service, or maybe we go with no ratings at all. Let results tell the story.

Your town is making national news. It is the lead story at radioandrecords.com today. Someone had the guts to say no to arbitron increases and give back some of the saved money to his staff by saving jobs.
Well done! I hope Dallas and Seattle take note, where I live and work and have friends who are worried about their jobs thank to either arbitron cost increases or bad ratings.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Somehow I'm not sure that advertisers in the top 50 markets - where PPM's will make their debut - will put much stock in the results from an unknown rating service when data on actual listening will be available.

Big Ed may be able to sell this bill of goods to his staff, but I'm betting that Galaxy will be back on Arbitron's customer list within a year.

 

[BobRoss]

Lots of smiles at Galaxy as staff members keep jobs and some get raises thanks to the elimination of Arbitron. I used to work in Syracuse and no one ever believed the ratings anyway. So why pay for them? Take the money and build a better radio station, pay your people more.

I'm not usually one to credit Galaxy, but I certainly agree it's nice to see the bully-like Arbitron getting a kick in the teeth. The unfortunate side to this, is the foregone conclusion that we'll never see the "public" P12+ numbers for as long as Galaxy isn't using Arbitron. I'm sure one of the other clusters in the market will request an embargo, if Arbitron isn't already doing the embargo on its own.

It would be interesting, however, to see how Eastlan's results compare to Arbitron's results. Will this show that there's more than one way to arrive at the same result? Or will the numbers be drastically different? If Eastlan's numbers come out with Galaxy gaining listeners, people will question if it's true, or if it's because Galaxy is their customer. If Eastlan's numbers come out with Galaxy losing listeners, will Ed wind up going back to Arbitron?

If I were one of those people getting raises, or having my job saved as a result of the "savings" Ed's getting by switching... I wouldn't be too confident until the first contract finishes out, and we see if Ed stays with Eastlan, or kneejerks back to Arbitron. I hope he'll have the patience to stay with Eastlan for awhile... not just for the sake of his workers, but it'll be good to see if stations in other Syracuse-type markets are inspired to make the switch. If enough do, Arbitron will have no choice but to become more competitive. And that would be a good thing for everyone in radio.

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

Don't hold your breath regarding Eastlan's challenge to Arbitron. Twenty years ago, Tom Birch (a former Top 40 jock who spent some time in Rochester) launched a similar challenge and was successful in gaining subscribers in several markets.

Birch used a telephone methodology instead of diaries, turned out monthly reports as I recall, and lasted a few years before being sold to a Dutch company for several million dollars.

While Birch was somewhat successful at gaining station subscribers, the company was unable to establish credibility with the advertising agencies who continued to rely on Arbitron for their ratings information.

That ultimately was the companies downfall.

 

[djdan]

As an agency rep, that buys across the country, I can tell you that Arbitron is not going away. Remember agencies buy the books too. In the top 40 markets arbitron's PPM will be the standard of measurement, not perfect, but better than diary. Do you really want a 25 year old media buyer in LA making decisions based on "feel?" Ratings are a necessity.

Does in have to be arbitron? In markets 1-40 it is the standard. Under market 40, like Syracuse, there will be no PPM, so going to Eastlan makes some sense. You can save several hundred thousand a year and in markets under 40, that is big bucks! Eastlan is in many markets, especially in the West and the numbers look a lot like the arbitron. In fact, in markets where both surveys (arbitron and Eastlan) are done, the results are pretty similar. Good money saving alternative in markets under 40, will never happen in major markets.

 

[Jaques Cousteau]

Lots of smiles at Galaxy as staff members keep jobs and some get raises thanks to the elimination of Arbitron. I used to work in Syracuse and no one ever believed the ratings anyway. So why pay for them? Take the money and build a better radio station, pay your people more.

I am sure Galaxy is putting some of the saved dollars to the bottom line, but it is nice to see that jobs will be saved and that someone had the guts to say NO to arbitron and their increasing rates. When the PPM arrives I can tell you a lot of people will lose their jobs in the TOP-40 markets (where I currently work...miss NY though!) as stations figure out how to deal with 60% increases in ratings costs.

Seems Galaxy and 100 other stations may have found the answer in this unknown ratings service, or maybe we go with no ratings at all. Let results tell the story.

Your town is making national news. It is the lead story at radioandrecords.com today. Someone had the guts to say no to arbitron increases and give back some of the saved money to his staff by saving jobs.
Well done! I hope Dallas and Seattle take note, where I live and work and have friends who are worried about their jobs thank to either arbitron cost increases or bad ratings.

Some people, when they are told what they do not want to hear, remove the source of their pain. The credibility or accuracy of the source does not matter. It allows them to blame failure on the source of the bad news, "shooting the messenger". Know of anyone with this "management" style? With respect to galaxy Albany, it does not make sense to pay for ratings when you are pulling a .6 If only agencies bought 3 deep from the bottom up!!!!