The Post Office wants to raise their rates again, and at least one group isn't happy. The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) are expressing frustration over the prospect of a third postage rate increase in two years, saying that this "is not what the American economy needs at this time." The MPA wants the rate increase to be delayed until 2003 at the earliest. The proposed rate increase for magazines would be 10%. Last year rates were hiked up 9.9% in January, and an additional 2.6% in July. The MPA has called on Congress, and the Administration, to join in their cause in delaying any rate increases.Not content with just talking, magazine publishers are actually trying their best to do something about the situation, as they will continue to work closely with the Postal Service to identify additional way to increase efficiency, cut costs, and avoid continued and unnecessary rate hikes.Higher rates would lead to more of a burden on the magazine publishers, which could come back to the magazine buyers in the form of higher newsstand price, and to the advertisers in the form of hiked advertising rates.
Arbitron Inc. yesterday released a second round of ratings comparisons for its new television, cable and radio audience measurement system, the Portable People Meter (PPM), which is currently undergoing U.S. market trials. The PPM is a pager-sized device that is carried by consumers. It automatically detects inaudible codes that TV and radio broadcasters as well as cable networks embed in the audio portion of their programming using encoders provided by Arbitron. At the end of each day, the survey participants place the meters into base stations that recharge the device and send the collected codes to Arbitron for tabulation. The meters are equipped with a motion sensor that allows Arbitron to monitor the compliance of the PPM survey participants every day. Marshall Snyder, president of Worldwide PPM Development at Arbitron, said this second ratings comparison is “more complete than our first because more media outlets are participating in the test by encoding their audio. Yet, the conclusions are the same: the PPM delivers logical ratings results and a more complete picture of how consumers use electronic media.” Since December of 2000, the Portable People Meter has been undergoing U.S. market trials in Wilmington, Delaware, which is within the Philadelphia TV market. Arbitron released the first ratings results on July 19, 2001. Additional ratings comparisons are planned for the fall. According to the results of this second test, on a 24-hour day, total-week basis, the PPM continues to report higher average quarter-hour audiences for the combined electronic media outlets that encoded full time, just as it did for May/June 2001 comparisons. Compared to existing methods of measuring media audiences, the PPM reports increased average quarter-hour audiences for broadcast TV and cable and equivalent average quarter-hour audiences for radio, a finding consistent with the May/June 2001 comparisons released on July 19. For radio, the PPM again reported a higher average daily cumulative audience: 79.8% for the PPM vs. 65.6% for the radio diary. The PPM also showed less time spent listening for radio: 3 hours and 5 minutes per day for the PPM vs. 3 hours and 42 minutes per day for the diary. Arbitron says the same pattern was also found in the June 2001 comparisons to Spring 2001 radio diaries. The PPM also continues to report shifts in listening patterns by daypart. Morning-drive and midday AQH ratings are lower according to the PPM, while Monday-Friday evening and overnight AQH ratings are higher as are weekend AQH ratings. As with the May 2001 findings, these comparisons for July 2001 indicate that, for broadcast TV and cable, the PPM is reporting higher AQH audiences for all dayparts. These increases are due in part to increased viewing for Men 18+ and people under age 35, as well as substantially higher cable viewing overall and the PPM’s ability to track viewing out of home. For the month of July 2001, 38 radio stations, 7 broadcast television stations and 15 cable outlets were encoding their audio full time and are included in these ratings comparisons. The July 2001 ratings comparisons include 3 additional radio stations and 7 additional cable outlets that were not in the May/June 2001 comparisons. The panel of consumers used for these ratings comparisons is representative of the market being measured, and the panelists have carried the meters with them more than 15 hours a day (median value) throughout the month of July. The radio ratings comparisons are between July 2001 PPM data and the Summer 2001 Phase I radio diary data. These comparisons are for Persons 12+, as the diary radio survey begins at age 12. TV ratings comparisons are made with data from the Nielsen meter/diary integrated estimates for the total Philadelphia DMA for the July 2001 Nielsen survey. These data are compared with the July 2001 PPM results for total Persons 6+, which is currently the lowest age for PPM measurement. The next phase in Arbitron’s demonstration of the PPM is to expand the sample to at least 1,500 people across the entire Philadelphia DMA beginning in January 2002. Arbitron says the increased sample size in the second phase of the trial would allow direct comparisons of audiences for individual radio stations and formats, TV stations and cable networks.
The two broadcast series premiering on the opening night of the new season met with decidedly different ratings results Monday, as NBC drama "Crossing Jordan" got off to a strong start, but a special CBS airing of new Ellen DeGeneres comedy "The Ellen Show" stumbled out of the gate. ABC captured the night, thanks to "Monday Night Football," but it was also a very good night overall for both NBC and the WB, and at least half a good night for CBS. UPN's comedy lineup also exhibited growth, leaving Fox, with its "Who Wants to Be a Princess" special sputtering, on the outside looking in. According to Nielsen nationals, NBC's "Crossing Jordan" averaged 15.74 million viewers and a 6.1 rating, 15 share in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic -- NBC's best Monday series premiere numbers in six and seven years, respectively. This helped NBC post its best in-season Monday averages (13.5 million viewers, 5.5/13 in adults 18-49) since May 1999 and its best on the opening Monday of the season since 1997. "Jordan," starring Jill Hennessy as a Boston medical examiner, easily topped CBS' competing drama in the 10 p.m. hour, "Family Law" (9.48 million, 3.6/9), and won its hour in key female demos. It placed second overall at 10 to ABC's "Monday Night Football." There was some audience dropoff at 10:30 for "Jordan," though, but only future weeks will tell if that means viewers were less than thrilled with a show they clearly wanted to sample. NBC posted gains vs. last year's opening night in all three hours, with solid performances as well from "Weakest Link" at 8 (11.91 million, 4.9/12 in adults 18-49) and "Dateline" at 9 (12.96 million, 5.4/12). In their first head-to-head battle, "Link" -- featuring a "Brady Bunch" reunion -- topped fellow quizzer "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on ABC in all key demos. "Millionaire" struggled (9.39 million, 2.6 rating in adults 18-49) but teamed with "Monday Night Football" (17.05 million, 7.1 in adults 18-49) to give ABC the night in viewers and adults 18-49, with the network showing year-to-year growth. ABC won the night in adults 18-49 (6.0/14), topping CBS and NBC, which tied for second (5.5/13). In total viewers, ABC led (15.2 million), followed by CBS (14.4 million) and NBC (13.5 million). NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker said he was cautiously optimistic about the network's Monday performance. "It's the first night of a very long season, and there will be many highs and lows, but we're off to a great start," he said. "'Weakest Link's' performance at 8 was a huge victory, and 'Crossing Jordan's' performance exceeded our wildest expectations." CBS was a strong No. 1 for the first half of the night, but fell on hard times with the 9:30 p.m. series premiere of "The Ellen Show" and the third-year premiere of "Family Law." "Ellen," starring DeGeneres as a dot-com exec who returns to her hometown, retained just 61% of the audience from its strong "Everybody Loves Raymond" lead-in (13.84 million vs. 22.80 million) and 69% in adults 18-49 (5.8/13 vs. 8.4/19) -- lesser holds than every episode of "Becker" to air in the slot last season. The show now moves to its regular Friday-at-8 time slot. While the numbers for "Ellen" weren't great, Kelly Kahl, executive VP of program planning and scheduling for CBS, said the preview achieved its goal. "'Ellen' got some sampling, and that's all we were asking for before it goes to Fridays," he said. CBS' other Monday comedies rolled, with "Raymond" -- the top show on any network for the night -- delivering its largest audience ever (22.8 million) and ranking as the most-watched CBS program since the finale of "Survivor: The Australian Outback" on May 3. "Raymond" also scored its best-ever rating among adults 18-34 (7.0), a 17% improvement over last season's premiere. Leading into "Raymond" were the season premieres of "King of Queens," which posted its best numbers ever for an 8 p.m. episode (15.86 million, 6.2/17 in adults 18-49), and "Yes, Dear" (15.18 million, 6.2/15), which delivered its largest audience since January. Both "King" and "Dear," like "Raymond," ruled their time slots in all key categories. "The entire comedy block was encouraging," CBS' Kahl added. "The returning shows were beyond our expectations in terms of viewers and demos." Kahl said the strong ratings for CBS' returning laffers augur well for TV in general following the Sept. 11 attacks. "It's a validation that the audience is looking to come back to familiar faces, and to laugh and be entertained again," he said. The dropoff of "Family Law" (9.48 million, 3.3 in adults 18-49) kept CBS from taking the night, as it fell more than 30% behind its premiere numbers of last season, when it enjoyed a stronger lead-in. Fox tied the WB for fourth in 18-49 (2.8/7) and was fifth in total viewers (6.55 million) with "Who Wants to Be a Princess," which was off by about 30% from last season's opening-night "Sexiest Bachelor" special. Overall, viewership levels were high, with Nielsen reporting that 66.7% of the nation's households were watching TV in primetime -- up from last year's opening-night 64.5% and the highest on a Monday since January. - Reuters/Variety