May 13, 2024
As predictable as the tides, every 28 days the ebbs and flows of the Nielsen metaverse are foisted upon us. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – in an affiliated agreement with the masters of the metadata from XTRENDS – are here to guide you through the chaos. Nay, we do more than guide. We offer insight, perspective, and just a wee bit of snarkiness.
Welcome to part one of the APRIL recap. This book ran from MARCH 28th through APRIL 24th. We were forced to navigate the EASTER holiday, the first pitches of the baseball season, and whatever local calamity befell the markets in question. Buckle up, it could be a bumpy ride.
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May 9, 2024
Recently, Fred Jacobs’ #TBT column was an ode to the Program Director. One of his essential points – to me – was that you should never get too high or too low when the book comes out. I used to tell my staff that ratings were like a baseball season – don’t celebrate a five-game winning streak any more than you lament dropping a weekend series. You are in it for the long haul.
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April 25, 2024
For far too long, radio has been playing fourth fiddle to the digital realm as far as an advertising platform is considered. Now I’m not here to say that including digital as part of a comprehensive advertising campaign is something to be avoided. On the contrary, if a business is not ranking high in search nor gathering first-party data to communicate with their customers, they will have a hard time flourishing.
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April 18, 2024
It has come to our attention that up to this point we have droned on about so many aspects of MARCH that we left out one critical reference: March madness. Perhaps we were reticent to include this in the blog because of fear that the NCAA enforcement division – such as it is – would crush us with their proverbial hobnailed boot. Then we realized that as long as we did not capitalize the phrase or include other terms like sweet 16 or elite eight or final four, we’d be good. At least, that’s what the lawyers said.
As with every ratings survey, there is a touch of madness. MARCH is no different. This one ran from FEBRUARY 29TH through MARCH 27TH. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – working hand in glove with the math maestros from XTRENDS – bring you the following analysis in living color …
(Yet another lineup change. Though the annual NIELSEN Market Definition Changes do not go into effect until the APRIL book, we have already changed the positions of DENVER and SAN DIEGO.) Read More…
April 17, 2024
Of all the events that were part of MARCH, the most perplexing is DST. That would be Daylight Saving Time (we’ll avoid a rant about the people who insist on pluralizing the second word).
No one really knows why we do it. Babies and pets don’t get it. And it screws up the already funky circadian rhythms for morning shows. At least Leap Year makes scientific sense.
The MARCH survey ran from FEBRUARY 29TH through MARCH 27TH and besides the clock change thing, the month had several religious celebrations, a changing of the season, and a day when everyone was supposed to wear green. It’s like a law or something.
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – in cahoots with the oracles of the numbers at XTRENDS – bring you part three of our latest audio – er, radio – ratings rundown.
A scoring change of note. NIELSEN initiated its annual Market Definition changes with the APRIL survey. While this did not technically affect the market rank order for MARCH, we made the change anyway. This month’s roundup reflects one of those changes.
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