Nielsen may be like an aircraft carrier in its slow turns, but in less than eight months from inception to implementation, it brought the three-minute rule to radio measurement. The real-world results of Nielsen’s move from a five- to a three-minute qualifier needed for quarter-hour credit are now being digested, but preliminary results show ratings in PPM markets were up an average of 14% in January compared to a year earlier.
“We are seeing what we expected to see,” said Jon Miller, VP of Audience Insights at Nielsen. In an interview during the latest Radio Rendezvous session, Miller explained that while tests last May showed a larger 20% bump in ratings, the smaller results seen last month may have to do with January being a traditionally lighter listening month for radio. He said it may also be impacted by the 8% to 9% attrition Nielsen sees each year of people leaving the medium.
“Mileage, of course, varies in individual markets and stations,” Miller said. “While this is a huge change and it’s a big influence, it’s not the only thing moving the numbers. There’s all the other factors of life that move radio listening, like weather, news, sports, traffic, holidays, and all the million things that we’ve learned over the years that change radio habits. That’s all still happening. We’ve just changed the rule in the background.”
The early data results have shown that drive times and weekends are seeing even bigger gains. “There’s growth in all day parts and all demos, some are bigger than others,” Miller said, adding that the addition of February and March data in the coming weeks will help Nielsen better understand the impact. But in January, the gains were mostly driven by time spent listening increases. The data also shows news-talk formatted stations had the biggest bounce, but that could have more to do with the Trump inauguration news cycle. Miller said Spanish-language stations also saw gains, as did younger-skewing cities, with some of the biggest increases in markets like Phoenix, San Diego, Austin, Riverside and Seattle. “Those are younger consumers that are more likely to listen in short bursts,” he said.
More Impressions For Advertisers
The first ratings from Nielsen’s shift from a five- to a three-minute qualifier needed for quarter-hour credit are out. While buyers are still assessing what it all means, many say it’s an exciting development that will put radio in a more positive light with advertisers. Diana Anderson, Senior VP/Group Director at Carat USA, said during a Radio Advertising Bureau webinar earlier this month that the change is a “great step in modernizing” how radio is measured and helps align radio with how digital is measured. “It was eye-opening to think about how much listening was being discounted because of the five-minute versus a three-minute qualifier,” she said.
Miller said capturing more impressions is the entire reason why Nielsen made the change, and the result is radio is capturing more credit for commercial listening than was previously being measured.
“People are using radio in shorter bursts, because people use all media in short bursts, especially if you’re younger,” Miller said. “And as a result, we’re going to capture more impressions. We’re going to give advertisers more choice.”
Miller also said in the interview that the early data shows the three-minute rule is resulting in more listening occasions as well as increased time spent listening by 10% to 15%. He said listening behavior isn’t likely changing, but rather Nielsen is doing a better job of capturing the listening that was already occurring in its data. “Now we’re grabbing that, and we’re counting it,” he said.
Nielsen Becomes All Wearables
The pager era has also come to an end. Miller said that the ratings company has phased out the final remaining PPM 360 listening devices that resembled a pager. Panelist listening is now recorded entirely on wearables, such as a watch face-sized pendant that can be worn on a chain or lanyard. “We are 100% wearable, and other parts of Nielsen are now moving to the wearable as well, because it’s such a good technology,” Miller said. “It provides us the most robust panel, and it is the future.”
But while wearables are the direction Nielsen is going, including with its TV panels, Miller doubts they will ever fully adopt an app-based measurement solution since a standalone device introduces the least amount of bias into the ratings. “Sure, it could be done, but you have battery impact issues, you have microphone issues,” Miller explained. He also noted that the microphone that detects listening in the wearable is far superior to what is in mobile devices.
“Who knows where this will go in the future,” Miller said. “But we put so much time and money into the wearable that, for right now, that is our future for measurement.”