Monthly Diary Ratings Are Finally Here. What Happens Next?

Story by Inside Radio
Written by Paul Henne

Despite ongoing client resistance over price, Nielsen has rolled out Continuous Diary Measurement to the first five of 46 diary markets set to receive the new service. But the list of initial clients who have agreed to pay the rate hike for monthly ratings is missing many of Nielsen’s biggest diary market clients. And the company has yet to say when it will implement the new system in markets currently measured twice a year.

On Tuesday, Nielsen released July 2019 currency ratings for Baton Rouge, Louisville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Puerto Rico. Based on a three-month sample, the survey period covers April 25-July 17. The remaining 41 market reports will be delivered by Aug. 23.

Nielsen identified iHeartMedia, Univision, Midwest Communications, Tyler Media, QueenB Radio, Southern Stone Communications and Bahakel Communications as clients that have signed up for the upgrade. Absent are big diary market clients including Entercom, Cumulus Media, Townsquare Media Group, Cox Media Group, Urban One, Saga Communications and others.

The long list of no-shows is likely due to client resistance over having to pay extra for the new service. As Inside Radio reported in April, multiple clients said they were broadsided by the price increase and that it wasn’t disclosed early enough in the process. Some insisted they wouldn’t upgrade to the enhanced service, choosing instead to stick with the existing cadence of quarterly or twice a year reports. “Everyone was trying to play chicken with Nielsen,” says one broadcaster, meaning some clients hoped that by refusing to pay for the enhancement, Nielsen would ultimately make the add-on available at no extra charge.

Another reason for the short list is some clients may be waiting to negotiate when their contract renewals come up.

Connoisseur Media CEO Jeff Warshaw, who chairs the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council and helped rescue CDM from being stillborn after the rate increase uproar, is hopeful other companies will see the value of monthly ratings. "I believe it’s going to be beneficial for our stations and for the credibility of our industry,” he told Inside Radio. “If after the rollout, others see the value, maybe they will jump on board. In the meantime, Nielsen is committed to doing it in those markets and that’s great.”

Brian Kaminsky, President of Revenue and Data Operations at iHeartMedia, said Tuesday in a press release that monthly ratings enable radio to give advertisers “the most timely and relevant information possible and will have more stable and actionable insights for how audiences are engaging with our content.”

Clients and ratings watchers alike are able to view the 6+ monthly ratings data on sites like Inside Radio’s StationRatings.com. Nielsen says it will publicly report all stations who subscribe to at least four quarterly releases (winter, spring, summer and fall). That means clients that have not upgraded to the monthly reports will be able to view the top line monthly numbers – but not sell off them or access demographic and daypart data.

They will also have to compete with stations – and negotiate with ad agency buyers – that have more current ratings than they do, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

The plan all along was to convert diary markets in three phases, based on market size. It’s unclear at this point whether CDM will ever make its way to the 84 mid-sized diary markets, which are currently measured twice a year in the spring and fall. The price hike in these markets is believed to be prohibitively higher than in 4-book markets.

In a December 2018 webinar, Nielsen senior VP of Product Leadership Bill Rose said the company was currently working on the timing for this group of markets, before it turned its attention to markets that get two quarterly reports per year, based on two-book averages. Last month the company said it had pressed pause on plans to introduce CDM in markets currently measured twice a year (spring and fall) while it continues to work with clients “to determine the best path forward to evolve radio measurement and establish attribution metrics in the small and mid-size markets.”

But with 46 markets making the transition, a total of 94 Nielsen Audio metros will have monthly reporting (48 PPM markets and 46 CDM markets) representing 80% of radio’s ad spend and population in Nielsen markets.

Year-round monthly ratings are seen as a way to make ratings currency more current in diary markets so advertisers can react more rapidly to market changes for more impactful schedules.

Brad Kelly, Managing Director, Nielsen Audio, called it a “transformative day” for the audio advertising industry. “There is no doubt that Continuous Diary Measurement is a big step forward for the audio industry,” Kelly said. “With CDM, very large advertisers that rely on Marketing Mix models will be able to use the most current data available to get a better read on how radio drives sales results -- the ultimate measure of ‘attribution’.”