Nielsen Completes Radio Ratings Pilot

In the US, Nielsen has completed the pilot study for its new diary-based radio measurement service, which is due to launch next spring. The company expects to unveil initial findings in February.

Nielsen announced a month ago that it would be competing with Arbitron to provide US radio ratings, and that Cumulus Media and Clear Channel Radio had already signed five-year contracts for its new once-a-year service.

While Arbitron has described the annual approach as 'a step backwards', Nielsen says it will be using larger sample sizes to reduce ratings 'bounce'.

The pilot took place in Lexington, Kentucky; one of 51 markets to be measured by Nielsen when it goes live with the service.

The firm will be using its address-based sampling (ABS) methodology to recruit sample households. This uses randomly selected addresses rather than telephone numbers in its domestic TV measurement service, to reach the 34% of US households that are not covered by current sampling methods, including cellphone-only and unlisted landline phone households.

Nielsen has more than 60 years' experience measuring radio audiences in countries such as Australia, South Africa, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, New Zealand and India, but has not provided a radio diary service in the US for nearly four decades.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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