And there was no comment from the ratings firm after the Media Ratings Council singled out 8 markets as under-performers. That did little to build confidence amongst the industry in the ratings system that can sway millions of dollars from one station to another. Here’s what the MRC said…
After an audit, the MRC reported “a substantial number of currently accredited markets showed declining performance.” 8 PPM markets will singled out: Baltimore, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, and Nassau-Suffolk. Those markets will get closer scrutiny.
The radio ratings experts we spoke to yesterday believe this has everything to do with getting poor responses from people carrying the meters. Nielsen hopes to improve meter performance with the introduction of its wearable line. Time will tell if that’s the case.
On the Thursday MRC announcement, there was no follow-up comment from the company to bolster confidence that everything was going to be better moving forward. Nielsen is also in the process of being sold.
30 markets are currently accredited by the MRC.
The closer scrutiny of the 8 markets by the MRC is already underway, and according to the MRC “will continue into the foreseeable future and involves detailed and frequent monitoring and verification of key PPM panel performance metrics in the eight markets.”
The MRC goes on to say that the metrics will be compared against commitments Nielsen has made to MRC as part of a PPM panel improvement program that is designed to improve panel performances in these and other PPM markets. Nielsen Audio management also will meet regularly with the MRC’s Radio Committee to review the results for these markets, and the Committee will consider their ongoing accreditation statuses with this information in hand.
WHAT? The ratings system has flaws? Perish the thought !!! I’m totally shocked. Well, not really. According to the official world of ratings, no one has ever listened to KCAA in the past 25 years.
The system is set up to reward the stations that pay “protection money” and punish those that refuse to be part of it. The few stations that “buy the book” in each market receive the revenue that should have been spread among a larger group of stations.
The ratings system was flawed from the day it was established. Discussing it now, as though it has any credibility defies logic.