Three-Minute Qualifier: Once In Lifetime Opportunity For Radio.

The new three-minute qualifier introduced with the January PPM ratings period is “the fastest Nielsen has ever debuted, introduced and rolled out a new measurement technique,” Rich Tunkel, Managing Director at Nielsen Audio said in a highly anticipated session at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The three-minute qualifier hasn’t even been a concept for an entire year, “so you can be forgiven if you’re not completely on top of it because it has been moving fast,” he said, before revealing findings from the first two months using the new formula during a Sunday afternoon session.

Audience levels in the first two months “captured are the highest that they've been since 2022,” Tunkel revealed, “which is exactly what we expected, once you figure in seasonality and attrition.” Daily cume increases are seen at the local level, which drives average quarter hours. “In PPM, it’s not about the weekly cume and the total weekly reach,” he continued. “The daily cume increases are seen at a station level, more so than the market level.”

Time spent listening increases are easier to see at the service, “because we get additional moments of listening across all different stations,” Tunkel explained. “These are moments of listening that otherwise would have been left on the cutting room floor as more minutes are being captured.” Markets that are seeing the largest increases are primarily in the West, which are “younger-skewing and coming from a lower base of audience,” Tunkel said.

In the first two months, the increases are seen in mornings, middays, and afternoons, with renewed relevance to weekends.

“As you're thinking about your strategies, you should be looking at that weekend inventory, particularly as an extension of prime,” he suggested. “Available inventory should be priced as such because the audiences there are significant.”

Formats showing gains over the past two months since the three-minute qualifier has been in place include news (+38%), classical and rhythmic CHR (+24%), followed by CHR (+21%), hot AC (+20%), contemporary Christian (+19%), news/talk (+18%), alternative (+17%), and Spanish contemporary (+16%).

Gains are seen at the service level and with time spent listening (TSL) as people spend more time with radio, which shows up as additional occasions of listening. “These are short-duration occasions where they went and started prior to the cut over to the next quarter hour,” Tunkel said. “As long as you have three minutes within that first quarter hour, now you're getting credit for that, whereas before you needed five.”

“If you're in a PPM market and you're seeing these gains show up, starting to blend into your three-month average… take advantage of it and be mindful of it and take credit for that increase in audience,” Tunkel advised attendees. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a reset because this is a trend that's positive for the industry. The actions you take now and how you respond to this, with your packaging and your programming, and how you talk to your advertisers about it, can only happen now.”

A Unified Industry Message

Tina Murley, Chief Revenue Officer at Beasley Media Group, recalled the creation of the Audio Alliance within the RAB that championed the three-minute qualifier change. The group was made up of executives from other companies – usually looked at as competitors – who have all come together for the common good of the radio broadcast industry.

“We competed fiercely against each other,” Murley said. “Now I would say that we're competing fiercely against big tech, and we need to come together as one to make sure that we're doing everything in our power to tell our story in radio, and to make sure that radio is front and center.”

“I like sports analogies, and I use the analogy of, you know, throwing elbows in the paint,” Mike Hulvey, President and CEO of the RAB and session moderator added. “And we shouldn’t be throwing elbows in the paint against each other… we’re better together.”

Murley said the three-minute qualifier is a game-changer. “I think this is a moment in time that we need to seize it, and we need to make sure that we're sharing the value in this industry,” she remarked. “We finally have a measurement that's a little closer to what big tech is… seize the moment and just make sure that your salespeople are armed.”

Hulvey added, “I don't remember a time in this industry where we've had everything lined up together, and granted, we're not holding hands singing kumbaya, but we are traveling down a path together at the same time.”