Tricking the ratings and some media buyers are killing good radio

[otiv]

I like cars and I like radio. I purchase some media. In the 1970's the ratings grew more and more important. Lots of paper convinced media buyers that they had the true information about radio ratings. Just like a car racer can insert a computer chip into his or her car to trick the engine to perform differently.
Consultants convinced owners that they could trick listeners to fill out ratings surveys in a way that would make their clients stations show up better in the ratings and sway media buyers to use this rating information to spend money on stations that perhaps they should not. A friend of mine put a chip in his diesel dooley to improve performance. The motor blew up. Ford Motor Company would not honor the warranty because they had a method to determine that an incorrect chip had been inserted. In their haste to justify their own jobs the consultant has convinced the owners and media buyers to over look the most important person. The listener! The listener likes personalities..good production, balanced music. Time Spent Listening in my opinion is the most important test of a radio station. Will listeners sit through commercials and other things to enjoy this station. Cume just says a listener listened to a certain station .. and not necessarily to my commercials. The wrong chip blows up the vehicle's motor. The trick format scares away the listener and more importantly helps the commercials fail ( with a false sense of security) and in the long run blows up the station. How many times can you change a format on a radio station frequency before the listener says. I never listen to W___ because I don't know what they are. Listeners are #1. Helping advertisers reach them is a strong number #2. Here we go!

 

[Radio_Realist]

That's why some advertisers are hiring marketing consultants instead of ad agencies. Then again, some ad agencies are also hiring marketing consultants as well. Marketing consultants tend to question the conventional wisdom of accepting Arbitron numbers as gospel, and instead rely on their own independent research and testing. Sometimes high rated stations do produce great results from ad. Sometimes they don't. But good testing and research can predict which stations will produce high results for any given product with accuracy that's at least as good as the research that says "play this song, but not that song".


> I like cars and I like radio. I purchase some media. In the
> 1970's the ratings grew more and more important. Lots of
> paper convinced media buyers that they had the true
> information about radio ratings. Just like a car racer can
> insert a computer chip into his or her car to trick the
> engine to perform differently.
> Consultants convinced owners that they could trick listeners
> to fill out ratings surveys in a way that would make their
> clients stations show up better in the ratings and sway
> media buyers to use this rating information to spend money
> on stations that perhaps they should not. A friend of mine
> put a chip in his diesel dooley to improve performance. The
> motor blew up. Ford Motor Company would not honor the
> warranty because they had a method to determine that an
> incorrect chip had been inserted. In their haste to justify
> their own jobs the consultant has convinced the owners and
> media buyers to over look the most important person. The
> listener! The listener likes personalities..good
> production, balanced music. Time Spent Listening in my
> opinion is the most important test of a radio station. Will
> listeners sit through commercials and other things to enjoy
> this station. Cume just says a listener listened to a
> certain station .. and not necessarily to my commercials.
> The wrong chip blows up the vehicle's motor. The trick
> format scares away the listener and more importantly helps
> the commercials fail ( with a false sense of security) and
> in the long run blows up the station. How many times can
> you change a format on a radio station frequency before the
> listener says. I never listen to W___ because I don't know
> what they are. Listeners are #1. Helping advertisers reach
> them is a strong number #2. Here we go!
>

 

[captainrexk]

> I like cars and I like radio. I purchase some media. In the
> 1970's the ratings grew more and more important. Lots of
> paper convinced media buyers that they had the true
> information about radio ratings. Just like a car racer can
> insert a computer chip into his or her car to trick the
> engine to perform differently.
> Consultants convinced owners that they could trick listeners
> to fill out ratings surveys in a way that would make their
> clients stations show up better in the ratings and sway
> media buyers to use this rating information to spend money
> on stations that perhaps they should not. A friend of mine
> put a chip in his diesel dooley to improve performance. The
> motor blew up. Ford Motor Company would not honor the
> warranty because they had a method to determine that an
> incorrect chip had been inserted. In their haste to justify
> their own jobs the consultant has convinced the owners and
> media buyers to over look the most important person. The
> listener! The listener likes personalities..good
> production, balanced music. Time Spent Listening in my
> opinion is the most important test of a radio station. Will
> listeners sit through commercials and other things to enjoy
> this station. Cume just says a listener listened to a
> certain station .. and not necessarily to my commercials.
> The wrong chip blows up the vehicle's motor. The trick
> format scares away the listener and more importantly helps
> the commercials fail ( with a false sense of security) and
> in the long run blows up the station. How many times can
> you change a format on a radio station frequency before the
> listener says. I never listen to W___ because I don't know
> what they are. Listeners are #1. Helping advertisers reach
> them is a strong number #2. Here we go!
>

This post came from the "BOBFM SUCKS" website

"Arbitrons are really a very ineffective way to measure what stations people are listening to. Forms are sent out randomly in any given market. The number sent out depends on the size market they are measuring.

For instance, in the market I work in, there are about 200,000 people... 67 arbitron forms are sent out per quarter. That's right, out of the 200,000 potential listeners, only 67 receive a diary. So, it really is a crap shoot. They could all end up at homes of Country Music listeners, or Rock listeners. That's why our sales staff doesn't sell by the numbers, even though all three of our stations do well in the ratings."

My note: so, if that IS the case, then just 3.35 100ths of a percent in a certain market then actually would be the determining factor in radio's successes and failures. And, given that, wouldn't that lessen Arbitron's impact on where a business spends their ad dollars? Kind of a "Mr. Obvious" subject there (I miss Bob & Tom, too!). So, you radio AEs, how else do you sell your station?