Nielsen Releases Pilot Ratings Study Result

On the same day that The Nielsen Company began its first eight-week radio "sticker diary" survey in 51 small and medium-sized markets, the company on Thursday (March 5) released some results from its pilot radio ratings study conducted in Lexington, Ky., last Dec. 4-10.Among its findings, Nielsen said more than 20 percent of people over age 12 in the market use cell phones as their sole form of telecommunications and listen to substantially more radio than homes with landlines. Using address-based sampling for sample recruiting, Nielsen said it was able to "identify and gain cooperation of these listeners to form a single sample that for the first time truly represents the full market."Nielsen, whose pilot test included 588 people from 336 households, also found that cell-phone-only homes logged nearly 23 hours of radio listening per week compared to just over 19 hours for the total sample. In addition, the company found the group listened to 3.5 radio stations compared to less than three stations among the total sample; had an average quarter hour total radio rating of 17.3 percent versus 14.3 percent rating for the total sample; and skewed younger, primarily between the ages of 18 and 34. Other highlights of the pilot program claimed that its address-based sampling approach "delivers a more representative sample than other recruitment systems, delivering 30 percent more of the potential radio universe than anything else available today." The company also said its sticker diary "works as well in the U.S. as it does in international markets." In the Lexington market, Nielsen's pilot study also found that radio reaches 93 percent of the market’s population of people over the age of 12; 90 percent of the population that does not read newspapers; 96 percent of light or non-broadcast television viewers; and 96 percent of those who go to the movies."This study underscores the value of radio in reaching a local audience, particularly those increasingly elusive, mobile young adults,” Nielsen's managing director for Global Radio Audience Measurement Lorraine Hadfield said. "The methods employed here benefit from Nielsen's experience in measuring both local television in the United States and radio globally and ensure improved representation. The Lexington pilot also proved that the sticker diary was easy to use and created no discernable bias." “The results of this study show clearly that radio has a vital role to play and that a new approach to measuring radio’s audience was required to fully represent the medium’s value,” said Lew Dickey, CEO of Cumulus. "The findings from the Nielsen pilot underscore the urgent need to include cell-phone-only homes in radio ratings." It was Cumulus' call last year for RFP's for a new ratings service led to the launch of Nielsen's new radio ratings service in the U.S. The Atlanta-based broadcaster was searching for a new service designed to measure both quantitative and qualitative audience characteristics for its stations in markets 100+. As of January 1, Cumulus no longer subscribed to the Arbitron Radio Market Reports currently published in 50 of those markets."Finally," Clear Channel Radio president and CEO John Hogan said. "An accurate picture of radio listening. It's no surprise to us that the most highly coveted demographic listens to 23 hours of radio per week – that's a far cry from what we've been told for years by inaccurate ratings. The fact that more than 20 percent of radio listeners in the test market are cell-phone-only households underscores the value that Nielsen brings to us and every other radio broadcaster right out of the gate. We applaud Nielsen's commitment to delivering accurate information immediately. Now we can get to the business of discussing radio's true value with advertisers."Clear Channel initially contracted with Nielsen for ratings in 17 of the 51 markets. The data from the first survey is scheduled to be delivered in August.Additional features of the new service that Nielsen is touting include:- Large samples to reduce relative error and bounce.- Sticker diaries - a proven and easy to use/easy to edit hat has improved the quality of radio measurement data around the world. In the Lexington pilot 35 stations were identified with stickers, but participants reported listening to an additional 35 stations with no station identification issues.- A significant investment in over-sampling and differentiated incentives to improve response rates and representation of the typically hard-to-reach demographics.- Robust, single-source qualitative measurement of lifestyle, consumer behavior, and purchase intent.- Nielsen’s Web-based Radio Advisor software platform, which will include responsible limits on the granularity of analysis and relative errors that can be used in proposals and analyses.The Nielsen Company is the parent company of R&R and Mediaweek.

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Nielsen Releases Pilot Ratings Study Result

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