Arbitron Unveils New Sports Radio Ratings Metric

New Sports Radio Ratings Metric

ARBITRON's Custom Sports Services division has unveiled the Event Retention Index (ERI), a new metric for PPM subscribers that measures how and when audiences "stay tuned" to sports broadcasts.  The ERI estimates the proportion of a station's audience that stays tuned for complete quarter-hours during a game relative to the average of the top-20 stations in the same market during weekdays 6a-7p.  An ERI index of 120 would indicate listeners are 20% more likely to stay tuned for a complete quarter-hour of a game broadcast than the average of the top 20 stations for MONDAY-FRIDAY 6a-7p.

"The Event Retention index can provide tangible evidence that people who listen to sports broadcasts 'stick around' during games and are more likely to be exposed to advertising during the broadcast," said Sports Manager CHRIS MEINHARDT. 

The company released some examples from the past baseball season, showing that for persons 6+. SAN DIEGO PADRES listeners on BCA Sports XEPRS-A (XX 1090)/SAN DIEGO were 31% more likely to listen to a complete 15 minutes of the broadcast than would listen to the top-20 stations in the market 6a-7p weekdays.  MINNESOTA TWINS fans listening on HUBBARD Sports KSTP-A (1500 ESPN)/ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS were 40% more likely to stay tuned, and TAMPA BAY RAYS listeners on CLEAR CHANNEL Sports WDAE-A (THE SPORTS ANIMAL)/TAMPA were 10% more likely to listen for a full quarter-hour.

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