Radio Ratings – A True Numbers Game
Posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 | No Comments »
By Steve Kabelowsky
This week, the people at Arbitron lost accreditation for five markets where they use people meters to judge radio ratings.
In Milwaukee, the firm has been able to keep its accreditation from the Media Rating Council, as it has in eight other markets that use the PPM technology.
However, Arbitron has struggled to get a quality sample that could be representative for the entire market:
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/101809/media-rating-coun
Here’s the tricky nature about ratings, and this is true in both TV and radio: One has to trust in the mathematical science that these firms (Arbitron and Nielsen) keep under wraps, but promise that they are sound. It takes an outside source, like the Media Rating Council, to offer an accreditation behind the ratings scientific method. That accreditation is there to make us feel better – think the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
I’m not sure I like the idea that a few hundred people and their listening habits is reflective of the entire population of southeast Wisconsin. But that’s the system we have.
It is not uncommon in the U.S. for companies within the industry to regulate itself without federal oversight. That in itself is a little scary, however, it seems, that industries with federal oversight have their own problems (i.e. Wall Street, banking industry).
Ratings are important because it can set the advertising rates for a period of time. In TV, the latest ratings period starts on Feb. 2. How the respective outlets do, will affect how much it costs for airtime for most of the year. Radio has other rating periods that do the same thing.
But if the numbers can’t be trusted by the service that TV and radio stations pay for, how then can a value be put on airtime? If you are an advertiser, this affects your marketing budget and ultimately, the bottom line.
If you are just a casual listener, it affects you too, as the ratings affect the type of programming and advertisements being delivered.
So, are people meters working for Milwaukee radio? We’ll just have to trust Arbitron, who can’t get it right in Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Portland and other cities.
Well, Here’s Your Notice: Clean Up Your Stuff
Posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 | No Comments »
By Steve Kabelowsky Remember that one party, you know, that one where you don’t remember much but your friends keep telling you about wearing a lamp shade and some bad karaoke? That’s right, we don’t remember it either. But your friends do and they put it on Facebook a couple of years ago. It is [...]
I hope I am not alone!!
Posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 | No Comments »
By Dan Trzinski The announcement that the NBA lockout was ending and we will, in fact, have a NBA basketball season actually made me happy. With the afterglow of a great baseball season fading and the Packers only giving us a one day a week sports fix (but what a great ride), I really missed [...]
Be Thankful For Connections
Posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 | No Comments »
By Steve Kabelowsky More often than not, everything we do in our collective society is done in terms of a connection with someone else. We create our own network of individuals for our family, friends and professional colleagues. It’s a pretty simple and basic way to look at how we exist. In this digital media [...]
