The book is out! The ratings are in! The thrill of rating release day resonates with many radio stations in the United States. The celebration or spin job is around the corner in two-book markets, where rating release days are a station event.
Nielsen Spring diary results are rolling out in the trades and to your PC any day now. You have more frequent rating updates if you work in a PPM or continuous diary measured market.
As of Spring 2021, 96% of the top 48 markets are measured by people meters. Markets #49-#108 are about 70% twelve-month continuously measured diary markets. The rest are two-book diary markets. And, markets #109-#253 are mostly all two-book markets, either standard or a rolling two-book average.
This column is for you in the two-book market. About half the salespeople deal with continuous measurement, and the other half are diaries issued twice a year. I encourage you to do your own research into how your station or cluster has performed.
- Who is the #1 cluster in town M—F 6a-7p with key demos? This will give you an idea of which group will be running into the agency first to ask for 100% buys or will need to begin lowering rates to stay competitive.
- Look at as many five-book trends as you can. In the sports format, in general, Fall ratings, because of football, can skew higher than Spring. So comparing Spring to Spring ratings and a five-book average is a better barometer.
- If your ratings go down in a particular daypart, note if a competitor switched format, changed on-air people, did a big contest, or purchased a lot of outside advertising.
- I think cume ratings are more stable over time and a better representation to our clients. Look for total audience potential in a week and sell schedules with enough frequency to reach 75% of them. The more narrow the demo/daypart, the less reliable the data will be because of the sample size. In smaller markets, I think it’s essential to look at M-F 6a-7p or 6a-12m.
- If you ran NBA play-by-play or want to know how your football broadcasts do, get ahold of Nielsen. Ask them what they would charge for a special run of the dates/times of the games by whatever demo(s) you want. Tell them you will use this information for sales purposes, and they may or may not need to modify your contract. It’s worth it since most of us charge a premium for those spots.
- Check the sample size for the market in Men 25-34. Did Nielsen have to weigh the diaries? It has been a big issue for them, and with smaller sample size, a few diaries in the wrong hands can hurt your numbers. I would point that out to radio-savvy buyers if it is a problem for you.
- And a reminder, if you have an AM station with lower ratings- grab your streaming numbers! Many AM stations have signal issues in garages, high-rises, downtown areas, and other regions. That means your streaming numbers may be higher- check.
- Monitor that TSL M-F 6a-7p. If you have great in-car numbers, note that to businesses that depend on drive-thru business. You can also learn when the majority of your audience is tuned in so you can get better results for your advertisers.
Whether you run to your clients or hide from them, make sure you have a rating story that you can buy into, and then you can sell others on what you believe.
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
