• by Erik Sass , December 7, 2009

Battling for the hearts and minds -- and pocketbooks -- of radio broadcasters, Nielsen and Arbitron are releasing dueling radio audience reports highlighting the positive aspects of radio's market position, especially the considerable reach and frequency the medium still enjoys.

Moving to maintain its dominant position in the radio ratings business, Arbitron is wooing broadcasters with the promise of new ad effectiveness ratings, designed to address one of the key demands of broadcasters and advertisers alike.

In the latest round of audience assays, Nielsen -- which is promoting its new radio ratings product for mid-sized markets using a diary and sticker system -- noted that radio reaches 77% of adults over the age of 18 on a daily basis.

The Nielsen study, titled "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio," reported that this is more than twice the daily reach of CDs, five times the reach of satellite radio (15%) and six times the reach of iPods and MP3 plays (12%).

Some 10% of adults listen to MP3s on their computer every day, while just 9% stream audio daily. Mathematically, this suggests a certain overlap between these various audio media; here, Nielsen noted that broadcast radio leads the way in time spent listening, with 50% of the total 2.75 hours devoted to audio media on average, followed by CDs at 16%, satellite at 8%, and iPods and MP3 players at 5%.

Not to be outdone, Arbitron this week released advance data from its Radar National Listening Report, which found that 236 million Americans over the age of 12 listen to radio in a typical week, equaling about 92.5% of the 12+ population, and 76.6% of the total U.S. population.

This is a slight increase over two years ago -- which Arbitron attributed, in part, to the greater accuracy of ratings in large markets, thanks to the introduction of its Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device.

While these figures for reach and frequency are undoubtedly encouraging, it's not clear whether more precise audience measurement alone can stem the tide of advertising revenue losses that began two years ago.

The medium has seen ad revenues decline at an accelerating pace, even as its audience figures remained more or less stable, suggesting that audience size is not the issue. Rather, advertisers have moved dollars to competitors like digital media due to their assumed greater measurability.

On this front, Arbitron is also developing new measurement products to demonstrate the effectiveness of broadcast radio advertising. This week, the company also announced the creation of a radio industry consortium to improve analytical methods for determining the actual impact of radio ads on product sales.

The consortium, which includes Dial-Global, Premiere Radio Networks, and Westwood One, aims to improve the quality of data used by advertisers in marketing mix models, for more precise measurement of radio's role -- in concert with other media -- in affecting purchase decisions.