09-22-2009/09-23-2009 PORTABLE PEOPLE METERS NOW IN KC He's a travel agent, movie reviewer and writer and now Jack Poessiger has also written an excellent article for the KC Confidential blog explaining the new Portable People Meters (PPMs) that will represent a groundbreaking method of evaluating listenership in the Kansas City radio market. The meters started being used Sept. 17, with the new measurement data available Dec. 31. For years Arbitron compiled radio listener data via diaries given to selected individuals in a market. These individuals were supposed to mark down the various stations they listened to each day and for how long. This led to obvious inaccuracies, as people often guessed about the stations they listened to. They sometimes wrote down that they listened to a station all morning when they actually were switching around. The diary process was very unreliable as people often found them cumbersome and would sometimes try to complete the information based on memory, give additional weight to their favorite stations, to friends, etc. With PPMs people will be given pager-sized devices that will measure their exact listening habits. If a wearer goes into a store the device will register the radio station in the background. For the first time radio listening habits will eliminate guesswork. PPMs generally do not represent good news for minority radio stations, who have often been given extra credit by Arbitron. It was also felt minority diarists sometimes used their diaries to show loyalty for those stations who targeted their urban communities rather than reflect accurate listenership. In fact, the Spanish Radio Association is challenging the accuracy of PPMs. Arbitron has also been sued by several attorneys general over PPM's possible negative effect on minority stations. (See related story from CNN.com) Other critics say that PPMs will be unable to distinguish from active listeners to a given station versus those who simply have a radio on as background noise. No matter what, PPMs are now a reality in the Kansas City market. For many stations things will never be the same.
09-24-2009 RADIO NEVER SAME "The radio landscape has changed so much in just the last few years that terrestial radio will never be the same anyway regardless of how Arbitron measures listenership. And as to "active listening versus background noise" diary keepers may not have distinguished that either. As one who sometimes buys radio time, I welcome any improvement in reporting. But I don't think this is necessarily it." ---Mike
Copyright 2010 Bottom Line Communications. BLC is a Media News Web site that analyzes media and marketing issues. Please give credit or link to http://www.bottomlinecom.com when using any materials. Click on the FEEDBACK tab to send any media tips/comments/thoughts to us. We honor all off-the-record requests and will correct/clarify any information found not to be 100% accurate.
