Nielsen Adds TargetCast, Maverick Media As Radio Clients

radioSeveral more radio players have signed up for Nielsen's new radio ratings service, scheduled to launch in August. This week, Nielsen announced that media agency TargetCast tcm had signed up to receive radio ratings for all 51 radio markets Nielsen will measure.

Maverick Media, owner of 20 radio stations, is also signing up for Nielsen ratings in Rockford, Illinois, a mid-sized market with a population of around 175,000. Although the deal currently only covers one out of Maverick's four markets, the current long-term contract in Rockford could be a test period, as Maverick considers signing up other stations.

The pattern is consistent with the other companies that have signed up for Nielsen's forthcoming radio ratings, including Clear Channel, Cumulus and ESPN Radio. Typically, new broadcast clients have signed up a portion of their station portfolio, suggesting that they are taking an experimental, wait-and-see approach to the Nielsen service.

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Still, the participation of several big radio companies at launch reflects their dissatisfaction with Arbitron, the dominant radio ratings firm, which measures most small and mid-sized radio markets with a paper diary system.

Facing major revenue declines and a frozen credit market, the big radio broadcasters have long complained about the price for Arbitron's ratings -- both from paper diaries and its new electronic PPM service -- while questioning the accuracy of these ratings.

Angling for these second-tier markets, Nielsen has touted its own diary system -- which uses stickers, rather than requiring panelists to write down stations they listen to -- as more accurate and less costly than Arbitron's. Encouraged by broadcasters, Nielsen hopes to make the radio measurement marketplace more competitive.

The broadcasters have made no secret of their intention to support Nielsen as an alternative measurement service. When ESPN signed up for the service earlier this month, Dr. Tom Evans, ESPN's vice president for audio research and special projects, noted: "We have a long history of supporting innovative research."

In May, Clear Channel stated that it is "fully committed" to Nielsen measurement in 18 small and mid-sized markets, pointedly adding: "We remain interested in expanding our relationship [with Nielsen] to include additional markets."

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