As you can imagine, the Ratings Experts from Research Director, Inc. have been elbow deep into the data being generated by Xperi’s DTS AutoStage “ratings” service.
As such, we have some thoughts:
The Good
- The number of participating automobiles is huge. In every market, the DTS AutoStage panel dwarfs what Nielsen has installed.
- On that point, the panel continues to grow as more vehicles come online.
- The data collection is passive. Drivers do not need to make sure they are meeting the minimum carry requirement in PPM markets, nor do they have to recall their broadcast listening in the diary world.
- You can see daily results overnight. This is a massive advantage for every market, but especially diary markets. Now, instead of waiting weeks or months to measure your performance, you can monitor it on a regular basis.
- While the metrics provided are less than what you see in Nielsen, you can track your station (and day parts) over hours, days, weeks, and months.
- You know how your station measures up to other (participating) stations in the market.
- They provide a heat map that shows where your listening occurs. Remember, the zip code info in Nielsen only tells us where the participant lives, not necessarily where they listen. While most listening occurs on the busiest roads (thank you, Captain Obvious), you can see commuting patterns.
- Ratings can eventually be provided in smaller markets that currently have no measurement.
- The system also tracks song metrics. Frankly, while this is nice, we’re not sure how valuable this is to programmers. Yet.
The Bad
- There is no demographic information. We suggest that P16+ is a logical choice.
- We also do not know how many people are listening. It only measures the number of cars. We don’t know if there is a single commuter, a carpool, or a parent schlepping some kids to a soccer game, so we don’t know how many people are listening.
- AutoStage can only report listening to broadcast stations in the car. It does not measure the stream or listening in other locations.
- This service is not available in all automobile brands. That said, we can postulate that the listening patterns of the average Ford driver vs. a Chevy driver are likely not dramatically different.
- The AutoStage “markets” do not align with Nielsen.
- Market ranking shows top-line data. You currently can only do a deep dive on your station(s).
- AutoStage follows a standard calendar month, so April covers the 1st through the 30th. It does not match Nielsen’s survey month.
The Verdict
Let’s be clear. DTS AutoStage does not replace Nielsen. It is not our currency. However, it is an excellent “add-on” metric you can (and should) use to monitor the health of your station(s).
As of this writing, its potential as a revenue generator is in the beta stages. It does have enormous potential as a sales tool, but it will ultimately depend on agency and advertiser acceptance.
If you haven’t set up your station to be involved with AutoStage, do so immediately! Being reported in the DTS system is free.
If you haven’t delved into the data yet, you are missing out on some powerful information that can help you make better strategic and tactical decisions.
As stated at the outset, we have spent a lot of time with this data. If you need help getting started or want help organizing and parsing the numbers, let me know: [email protected].
