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Want To Get Better Grades?
December 6, 2005
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Arbitron Are The People Who Design The Tests
For the past several weeks, we have concentrated on ratings and Arbitron. We wrap this current series on ratings with an in-depth look at some of the other things Arbitron provides. In order to bring the picture into sharper focus, we spent some time with Julian Davis, who was recently promoted to the newly-created position of Director/Urban Media Services. One of the things that Arbitron has been developing for years is its annual Black Consumer study. This year's study provides an even more penetrating look into an Arbitron world few really know.
We asked Julian about Arbitron's new Black Consumer Study. We asked him to
to tell us about the study, and to explain who it affects and why it's important. He suggests that programmers, sales managers, general managers and others use the information it provides to gather more knowledge about their audience. It is especially useful in combining information about all media, including cable television and radio. He said the entire study is available at arbitron.com
One of the key focuses of this year's study is health care. We asked Mr. Davis why he and Arbitron felt this was important. He said that the health care industry is one industry that has been overlooked in years past. He says that black radio has been undervalued and overlooked. From a purely advertising point, he sees this as representing new opportunities for urban stations to develop a fresh revenue base. Many agencies who place buys either assume that a general market buy will reach everybody, or have no knowledge of how to reach African-American consumers and fail to understand why black radio is important.
And since many of the buyers are not African-Americans or may not live in the neighborhoods served by the listeners to urban radio, they have misconceptions
and/or sketchy information on how to reach this important segment of consumers. Davis says that African-American programmers and managers should get the health care industry involved with their stations.
He says this will do two very important things: First, it will help provide a vital community service which will educate them and provide answers to their health concerns. And black radio needs to emphasize that the best way to reach the black consumer is through media which is directed specifically toward them.
JB: Is Arbitron aware of the need to better serve a growing, changing minority consumer?
JD: Arbitron is preparing to meet its new customers' needs. They are looking to increase response rates and longer term responses. One of the ways Arbitron plans to do this is with the use of its personal people meter or PPM. Despite some delays, industry support for PPM is building.
The PPM Story
We asked Julian to tell us about the most recent developments of the PPM.
JD: PPM is going to be connected to radio, cable and television as well as outdoor and ultimately print.
Today, following the latest efforts in Houston, Arbitron has encoded its data with other retail media data. It now has the ability to take the radio industry to another level. The overall goal is to help build the confidence it needs to transform to PPM.
We directed some questions to Julian about the business impacts of PPM.
JB: How will it affect revenue and business?
JD: Arbitron will work closely with industry organizations.
JB: Is Arbitron still looking to partner with Nielsen?
JD: Yes, but Arbitron is prepared to go forward without Nielsen, if necessary, although there are still some strong indications they will be involved.
JB: Is Arbitron is going to address reporting initiatives, response rates, proportionality, bounce, the world of telecom (DNC number portability) and cell phones?
JD: Arbitron will look at the short, medium and long-term issues around response rates. Response rate are the number of persons who participate in a given survey divided by the number who could have participated (in-tab diary). The denominator is then adjusted.
JB: How well are various demographic cells represented with respect to demos, race ethnicity, and geography?
JD: Some groups are tougher to get than others. Arbitron over-samples when they can. We have found that young gay males who live with others offer better-represented demos. Under representation is still a problem.
JB: What is the main reason customers will find PPM is good for radio?
JD: There are new PPM enhancements. The next steps and timing will include commercial rollout. The PPM will help all radio stations to become more accountable. It will also enable stations to retain and grow audience while providing advertisers with more in-depth knowledge about radio, thus increasing the overall value of the medium.
PPM will better connect retail/advertising activity to retail sales, proving its effectiveness. It will put radio on the same platform as television, improving its chance of garnering a greater share of broadcast advertising budgets. It will allow radio to compete with TV and cable for children's advertising. That means it will increase radio advertising revenue overall.
In addition to the PPM updates, I'm looking forward to further discussions of the peculiarities of Arbitron diary placement and methodology during this year's "Arbitron Consultant's Fly-In."
Word.
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