• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 7, 2005

A day after Arbitron announced plans to delay an effort to proactively measure the audiences of satellite radio, the satellite radio industry cracked another major advertising category: liquor. Diageo late Friday announced a major media buy for its Tanqueray gin brand on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The deal is another example of how Sirius is taking risks and changing the nature of radio broadcasting. Sirius, the new home of shock jock Howard Stern, has stepped up sponsorship and advertising deals in a medium whose primary revenue stream has been from subscribers. While distilled liquor brands have been increasing their presence on terrestrial broadcast radio and TV stations, they are still treading lightly as the broadcasting industry wrestles with its own long-standing self-imposed ban on liquor ads.

Diageo has been among the most aggressive marketers pushing the envelope on terrestrial broadcast, and is now extending into a higher orbit--although the ads will run only in programming whose audience is comprised of at least 70 percent of listeners who are of legal drinking age, said Diageo spokesman Tony Sinclair.

How Diageo and Sirius plan to measure that isn't exactly clear, since there is no explicit methodology aimed at measuring satellite radio listeners, and there won't be one anytime soon, according to Arbitron.

Last week, the radio ratings giant said it was postponing a plan to begin instructing its radio diary keepers to list the satellite and Internet radio stations they listen to. Arbitron had planned to begin that process effective with its winter 2006 surveys, but yielded to pressure by a powerful terrestrial broadcasting group--the National Association of Broadcasters' local radio measurement committee--and said it was delaying the process until at least the summer 2006 survey (MDN Nov. 4).

That decision does not appear to have stymied Diageo's desire to go into orbit. In fact, The Tanqueray campaign features an unusual 150-second commercial format. The spot is based on an original song, "Get Your Ice On," which will also be made available via a "virtual CD" offered by the marketer for listeners to download for free on www.tanqueray.com this month.

The song emphasizes "the importance of responsible drinking," said Diageo's Parsons, noting: "Listeners are encouraged to 'Get your think on when you get your drink on'."