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Posts in "Hot Topics"

Two Ways to Win the Ratings Game

March 23, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

As The Ratings Experts, we’re well-versed in the language of Nielsen. We not only know the numbers, we also know where to mine for the nuggets that can reveal why your station is healthy (or not).

However, if you work your way through the fog of war, you’ll find that your ratings are dependent on one metric – Average Quarter Hour (AQH). Everything is dependent on this number … Read More…

Radio Remains Strong!

March 16, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

Streaming now represents 20% of AM/FM radio listening, according to Edison Research’s quarterly “Share of Ear” Q4 2022 study. Did you know this? Are you prepared with the facts to fight perceptions that Pandora and Spotify reach more people or garner a larger “share of ear”?

Read More…

Do You Read the eBook?

March 9, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

This blog post has nothing to do with Kindles, e-readers, or anything digital. We are, instead, going to explore the wonders to be found in Nielsen’s eBook. This delightful tome comes your way with every survey, is available in the easy-to-use PDF format, and contains a dizzying array of numbers … and stuff.

The eBook contains the granular details of the survey … Read More…

Cume Conversion

March 2, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

You may have read the recent “Tuesdays with Coleman” blog from Jay Nachlis. The topic was cume conversion – what percentage of your overall cume is P1 to your station? Frankly, this is not a metric that we have paid much attention to in the past.

Recently, this spawned a discussion with one of our clients which had me embarking on a mission. How are stations/formats performing at cume conversion? Read More…

Pre-Gaming

February 23, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

For decades, radio’s favorite sport has been complaining about the ratings. Whether it was Arbitron or Nielsen, we too often blame the service for our performance.

While there are times when things like sample size or proportionality are an issue, the truth about your station’s numbers is always contained in the data. Whether you use a service like ours or just the tools provided by Nielsen, a little digging can reveal the truth… Read More…

Don’t Play to the Panel

February 16, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

We are ruled by the ratings. Whether you’re getting 13 PPM surveys a year, rolling diary results, or two books a year. The results of these report cards determine our collective fate.

There are plenty of tools that help you gain a deeper understanding of the who, what, and where of your audience. Nielsen provides a CPR (Control Panel Report), for example. Of course, The Ratings Experts here at Research Director, Inc. have several tools that can help you do an even deeper dive…

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Are You Famous?

February 9, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

I am a huge fan of Bob Hoffman, aka The Ad Contrarian. He is a former advertising executive who is not afraid to take his former industry to task. He also has a sharp insight into how advertising should work.

His most recent email contained an interesting thought…

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Hot Categories for 2023

February 2, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

Are you prepared for the hot categories for this year? Do you know what categories will be strong for your market and station? Some of the top categories expected to be strong in 2023 include Technology, Education, Auto Repair, and Healthcare. Are you ready to show advertisers the value of partnering with your station(s) to help them grow their business?

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Crazy Call Letters and Their Odd Attachments

January 26, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

As kids growing up in downstate Illinois, we listened to WLS. Frankly, that Top 40 AM radio station was the only one we could get during the day (yes, I’m that old) with the music we were interested in listening to – as in, sorry, not country. But I only found out this year why the call letters for WLS were W-L-S. Originally owned by Sears, the call was to mark Sears as the “World’s Largest Store.” And then I got curious…

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Is Morning Drive Back?

January 19, 2023

Filed Under: Hot Topics

Radio has traditionally been built around Morning Drive. That is where all the resources – and “entertainment” – has been focused for decades, at least when it comes to stations that focus on music. This industry muscle memory has been hard to shake.

Read More…