Arbitron’s ‘little gadget’ causes major static
Luis Gutierrez, the Chicago Democrat, surprised fellow members of Congress earlier this year with the revelation that he and his wife were participants in an Arbitron ratings survey. They’d been chosen to carry Portable People Meters, which are compact devices that monitor radio listening electronically.
What Inside Radio called Gutierrez’s “shocking announcement” not only ignored Arbitron strictures against survey panelists disclosing their participation, it also underscored why the PPM system — which replaced the old paper-and-pencil diary method — has not yet gained full acceptance by the industry or federal regulators.
“It really is very burdensome technology,” Gutierrez said of his experience during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on minority broadcast ownership. “My wife’s dresses sometimes did not accommodate the little gadget.” While joking about the five-dollar fee he received as a Hispanic participant, he said it was a struggle to remember to carry the pager-like device each day: “I barely take my medicine when I’m supposed to, and I forget about my glasses. . . . I can’t see an auto mechanic using this. If you’re a nurse or a doctor, are you really going to walk around with this pager all day long?”
Even more controversial than the technology is the sampling Arbitron has been using to gather its data. As stations aimed at minorities have seen their ratings decline (by one estimate they’ve dropped between 40 and 60 percent nationwide since PPM kicked in), Congress has been holding Arbitron’s feet to the fire. As recently as last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform grilled Arbitron CEO Michael Skarzynski, who declared: “We share the concern regarding the health of minority broadcasting, and are certain that PPM is not the cause of its problems.” According to a summary by Radio Business Report, Skarzynski said his company had spent more than $100 million to develop technology that produces valid and reliable audience estimates.
So what happens when a minority-targeted station does well in the ratings? Consider Clear Channel Radio’s urban adult-contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7), which finished first among all listeners between the ages of 25 and 54 (the “money demo” coveted by advertisers) in the PPM survey for November. That achievement prompted the Sun-Times to ask in a headline: “Is Arbitron cooking ratings numbers?” Citing unnamed radio execs, columnist Lewis Lazare had them “wondering whether Arbitron, to avert any unwanted action by Congress, might in recent months have been reallocating its [PPMs] — and/or weighting the data from those meters — in a way that skews the results more heavily in favor of minority-oriented formats.”
The allegation drew a strong denial from Arbitron — and a sharp rebuke this week from Sean Ross, the highly respected executive editor of music and programming for Radio-Info.com and vice president of music and programming for Edison Research, who wrote:
“Even if Arbitron were showing greater diligence at hitting its ethnic targets in Chicago or any other market, well, that’s what a ratings provider is supposed to be doing, particularly now. Describing that as ‘cooking ratings numbers’ in a major daily suggests naiveté about the vicissitudes of the sampling process and broadcasters’ rhetoric on the topic — every month, the station that goes back up in the ratings thinks it’s because they raised hell with Arbitron about the sample the month before.”
In this market, the effect of the new ratings system is most evident in sweeping talent changes over the past year or two. Everyone from Steve Dahl, Melissa Forman, Ed Volkman and Joe Bohannon to Jonathon Brandmeier, Ramsey Lewis, Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey can blame their predicaments on PPM numbers that were lower than the ratings they delivered under Arbitron’s old method.
Even so, to make Arbitron a scapegoat for all of radio’s ills is more than naïve or simplistic. It overlooks the double-digit declines in advertising revenue brought about by the economic downturn and competing media — especially the Internet. It disregards the impact of iPods, online streaming and satellite radio. And it ignores the crushing debt loads that threaten the very survival of many radio companies.
But then again, in troubled times, it’s always been easiest to blame the messenger.
blogs.vocalo.org
When the PPMs first rolled out, didn’t they “tweak” the PPM distribution because some stations were complaining? So, was the distribution right then, or now, or what?
I saw a report [somewhere] that said that a daily sample only counts if the listener had something like 5 hours of listening samples collected. Weekly only if there were 5 or 6 days of data for that week. Maybe that’s incorrect, I don’t know.
That seems like a giant flaw- weighted against people who don’t spend their entire lives near a radio.
Whatever the problems with PPMs, it is difficult to accept that they are an inferior vehicle to listening diaries, which simply required more effort that most people will/would make. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that people overweighted the station they “supported” but didn’t listen to nearly as much. Or defaulted to “name” personalities who were front of mind. Inevitably it will take Arbitron years to refine its sample and it will never perfectly reflect the population. But this passive device is indisputably a superior way to gauge radio listenership, as it makes a real stab at overcoming the imprecisions of human nature.
Who cares about PPMs. I would like to know the medications Mr. Gutierrez is taking.
I want to know what meds Bruce Wolf isn’t taking.
“Even so, to make Arbitron a scapegoat for all of radio’s ills is more than naïve or simplistic…”
Radio has completely lost it’s identity. Stations are now owned by large conglomerates and are run by national program directors. You can go from Chicago to Tulsa to Phoenix to LA and every station sounds the same. The RIAA controls which artists get promotion and airplay, unlike the old days when a local DJ could break a new band. A trained monkey (or even Chet Chitchat LOL) could do the job of the modern DJ. Radio’s ills can be blamed directly on the labels that make up the RIAA and companies like Clear Channel, certainly not Arbitron or Apple.
What the HELL has this got to do with the business of the U.S. Congress? Get us a universal health-care bill with a robust public option — no screw that, get us single-payer universal health care and stop letting amoral insurance corporations hold our very lives hostage to their greed, get us a jobs bill that will pull us out of this recession the way the WPA and CCC did back in my parents’ day, and pass campaign finance reform that will end the stranglehold corporate money and moneyed corporate interests have on our government and THEN maybe you can tell us you are doing your job. If this does not happen, you can no longer count on my donations to or membership in the Democratic party. Fool me once… can’t get fooled again!
Rev. Pat: This is a Post on Arbitron Meters used to determine radio and TV ratings – this is not the Huffington Post.
For what it’s worth to you though, I have gone to two tea parties and a townhall meeting and I think ObamaCare will bankrupt the country if enacted.
Typical online thread response hypocrisy, “hey man, have respect for the conversation and forum and stay on topic an keep crazy comments at bay! But off topic [opposing crazy comment]…”
what about me?
“look! tiger’s mother-in-law on a stretcher!” http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blogshakalaka
i think the insurance companies should run radio. that way i could get all my meds in a payola scandal.
also, see steve dahl blog: “how arbitron discriminates against swedes”
Well, Ferrell, if you’ve been to TWO teabagger parties I’m sure you are completely informed on all aspects of health care reform and I must bow to your superior grasp of the subject. And monkeys might fly out of my butt.
They still send $5 to apply guilty pressure? That’s just insulting. No one wants to help Arbitron make money if all they get is $5 for themselves. Same effect as the nickel they tacked along in some junk mail. I kept the nickel and didn’t order anything. (Admittedly it was for Vets though so my conscious isn’t clear and I can’t sleep at night, but $5 from Arbitron… thanks!)
Anyway, if the problem is sample size, isn’t PPM data easier to collect? Send out 5 times as many “beeper” meters.
If the trouble is getting people to take part in Arb surveys, and the respondents they anticipated are not participating, then…
1) Recruit from an iTunes list or somewhere people are passionate about music, (or bribe em with at least a $20)
OR
2) Set up some sort of survey that determines how many people will not participate or will not provide useable data.
With this insightful and accurate information, Arb can then anticipate how they’re doing and direct their efforts knowing how many extra people and from what demographic they’ll need to approach.
Of course that would mean Arbitron would have to rely on their own numbers…
So please allow me understand how this PPM system works…
1. I must listen to radio at least 5 hours a day, and…
2. I must have at least 5 days of samples within the measuring week…
3. If the above two conditions are not met, my sample will not count.
Who are they kidding? They expect me to listen to a minimum of 25 hour of radio a week. The only way I could do that is if they locked me up in a radio station. And what is Luis Gutierrez doing with that 25 hours, certainly not the people work. What’s happening here is that people are turning on radios at work for background noise. This doesn’t sell product. I can’t believe that a minority station like WVAZ-FM could rank #1 when the minority they target only comprises 10% of the population of the greater metro area.
Excellent article!
From my vantage point, any of today’s Web traffic analytical tools (such as Google Analytics), offer far more accurate and relevant data than the system mentioned above. It’s like night and day.
Don’t even mention the previous diary system–what a joke!
We are very excited about the future when it comes to the ability to accurately measure one’s audience.