[BC] Re: TMs Tomorrow Radio

[Mike McCarthy]

Agreed.  Gone are the days where the slop of human memory can be 
accounted for and factored out of the process.  The PPM will know 
exactly who, when and how long the wearer of the meter listened to 
any given program...including TV shows, streaming, and downloaded 
programming.  They'll also know if the listening is time shifted...IE 
the panel member records something and listens to it later.

This is really a BIG BROTHER of audience analysis.

The HARD quarter hour awarding will now replace the softer version of 
the previous diary method.  So I expect MAJOR clock realignments in 
the coming months where the PPM is debuting to insure there is no 
mid-quarter hour tune away.  I also expect some owners to install 
hotter stand-by TX/systems so as to insure they're really on the air 
and minimize the gaps in any instances where the TX fails.  This is 
where solid state TX's will really make an impact at installations 
where the whole plant is solid state combined as opposed to single box tube.

What it doesn't change is the known omission of the college demo 
where they don't do any monitoring of the 18-21 year olds who go away 
to school. While the PPM won't roll out in markets below #50 anytime 
soon, there are top 50 markets with very large universities/multiple 
universities within the DMA and they draw students from all over the 
USA and abroad.  San Diego, Twin Cities, and Boston are three which 
come to mind in that regard. In towns/counties/metro's where the/a 
predominant industry is a major college/university, the ratings in 
those areas will be extremely skewed away from the stations which 
program to those students.

So in some areas, maybe 2-3% of the total DMA listening audience 
isn't even factored.  Stations which cater to those audiences will 
need to start or increase their own qualitative and quantitative measuring.

MM

At 09:23 AM 4/29/2007 -0400, Rich Wood wrote
>------ At 09:05 AM 4/29/2007, Cowboy wrote: -------
>
>> > The "PD of tomorrow" lived in a world of instant ratings and was worried
>> > about a 1/4 point drop as a result of being at low power from 2-3 a.m.
>> > during Sunday morning maintenance.
>>
>>  Sadly, I know some GM's who believe that today !!
>
>Be careful. With the Arbitron PeopleMeter it coming true. It's 
>monitoring 24/7. Being on the air with all your channels encoded 
>will be more critical than ever.
>
>Rich
>
>