Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

Nielsen’s attempt to artificially boost radio listening by lowering from 5 minutes to 3 the time it takes to win quarter hour listening credit has an unintended consequence for advertisers that sounds good for Nielsen but creates potential ad trouble in return.

• Inflated numbers risk undermining credibility -- Artificially increasing impressions by changing definitions rather than actual listener behavior risks degrading trust with advertisers.
• If agencies start to see discrepancies between reported impressions and actual campaign outcomes (foot traffic, sales), they may view radio’s metrics as unreliable or manipulated.
• But that’s not the worst of it – advertisers are already onto four specific 3-minute rule shortcomings that concern them and will force the industry to defend the Nielsen gift to radio broadcasts in a Hail Mary move to save their ratings business.

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