Variety (May 1946)

Wednesday, May 8, 1946 S7 How Nielsen Radio Index Will MEET The Specifications for "Ideal" Service I. CAB COMMITTEE SPECIFICATION NO. 1: "A measurement in absolute terms, Z.e., a rot- Jug which can be property projected against the total number of radio homes In the area reached by the stations carrying the program. This requires a properly stratified national sample giving proper weight to urban centers, small towns, and rural areas; to all income brackets, specifically Including non-telephone as well as telephone homes; to areas receiving excellent multi-station coverage ranging down in proper proportion to areas throughout from transmitters." NRI service already meets this specification pre- eisely—eicept that it is limited to 63% of the country. We propose to eipand to a percentage sufficiently close to 100% to eliminate ony signifi- cant-error in projecting to ALL U. S. RADIO HOMES. Note that the coincidental phone technique can NEVER even APPROACH this specification—be- cause it is limited to URBAN-TELEPHONE homes which, as present coincidental services are operated, represent only about 14% to 17% of all radio homes, and it-could never be raised higher than about 25% of all radio homes. This limitation creates errors ranging from +62% to —48%. This proposed increase to full national coverage will be accompanied by a LARGER SAMPLE—probably 25% to 50% above present levels—thus adding to the already high accuracy of NRI service. II. CAB COMMITTEE SPECIFICATION NO. 2: IROADCAST during two weeks each month (both day and night). However. ALL weeks are auto- matically recorded on the Audimeter tapes, and, if the industry decides that the eitra cost of decoding, tabulating, and computing program ratings for four weeks per month (about 15%) is justified, we are prepared to do It. Note that while this improvement would add only about 15% to NRI costs, we estimate it would add nearly 100% to present CAB costs, and nearly. 167% to present Hooper costs—in addition to more than doubling the frequency with which the average home is bothered by coincidental phone calls—which has already become a problem. Also note that coincidental techniques are too lim- ited, in sample siie, to rate each BROADCAST of most multi-weekly programs. III. CAB COMMITTEE SPECIFICATION NO. 3: "A measurement which is speedy, with ratings available within a tew days otter each broad- cast. In considering renewals for time, talent, writers, musical features, etc.. agencies and advertisers need the mast current data avail- able. It occasional costly mistakes are to be avoided." We seriously question the practical importance of this specification—for reasons set forth in detail in our booklet, "NEW FACTS ABOUT RADIO RE- SEARCH." However, if the industry wants it,, we are prepared to alter our operating method in ways which, in conjunction with Specification II above, will 1. Provide a delivery speed substantially equal to that of CAB. "A measurement which covers oil broadcasts of a program, not one week out of two or tour. While this Is an Ideal, It can be compromised it economic factors make the cost of weekly measurement prohibitive." NRI service, as now operated, covers EVERY 3. Provide, each year, twice as MANY trends as 2. Provide, at practically any given moment, a greater number of STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT trends. CAB. twice as many as Hooper (evening), and four times as many as Hooper (daytime). 4. Provide trends that are much more ACCURATE— because the NRI sample does not SHIFT. 5. Provide DAILY trends in respect to multi-weekly programs. 6. Provide trends on a "per-broadcast" basis, as distinguished from the CAB "2-week moving average" basis (which is not as fast, in respect to TREND, as it appears to be, because each re- port merely measures HALF of the difference be- tween the last week and the SECOND preceding measured week). Note also that impending TECHNICAL develop- ments will undoubtedly provide STILL GREATER SPEED in the near future. (See booklet, "NEW FACTS ABOUT RADIO RESEARCH.") IV. CAB COMMITTEE SPECIFICATION NO. 4: "A- measurement which yields consistent and unmistakable trends so that non-sfatisfically minded advertisers are not confused by vari- ations In ratings which do not necessarily rep- resent changes In program popularity, but may represent merely the variations between successive random samples. In our opinion the present CAB ratings service falls so far short of meeting these specifications that we feel its continuance would serve no useful pur- pose." NRI service already meets this specification (as no coincidental phone technique can EVER do), because NRI uses a FIXED sample which does not introduce, from week to week, rating fluctuations due to UNAVOIDABLE DIFFERENCES IN SUCCES- SIVE WEEKLY SAMPLES. Note that the sample increase involved in Specifica- tion I above (probably 25% to 50%) win add to the already high accuracy of NRI trends. How Nielsen Radio Index Will SURPASS The Specifications for "Ideal" Service Nielsen Radio Index service not only recognised, from the start, the great importance of informa- tion beyond "program rating" but it. developed ways and means of ACTUALLY PRODUCING a comprehensive list of such data. The extent of this development is revealed by the following partial list of features furnished EXCLUSIVELY by NRI service: 1. TOTAL Audience for Each Program 2. SIX-MINUTE Audience 3. FULL-COVERAGE Audience 4. COMMERCIAL Audience 5. CUMULATIVE Audience 6. Audience by CITY-SIZE 7. Audience by INCOME CLASS 8. Audience by Use of COMMODITY °. Audience by Use of BRAND 10. MINUTE-BY-MINUTE Audience 11. Audience How 12. Holding Power 13. Holding Power Analysis 14. Turnover 15. Frequency, of Listening 16. Program Duplication 17. Coverage Factor 18. Station Audience for Certain Major Primary Areas 19. Program Testing Facilities 20. NRI Data on Non-Network Programs 21. Audience for Spot Announcements 22. Homes per Radio Dollar 23. Program Cost per Commercial Unit 24. Commodity Distribution 25. Brand Distribution 26. Continuous Product User Life 27. Annual Consumption per Using Home 28. Sales per Radio Dollar •NIELSEN RADIO INDEX IS NOT A MERE "PROGRAM RATINGS SERVICE' It is a very comprehensive morketing research service embrac- ing the major marketing, time buying, and programming problems involved in the broadcasting and sponsoring of radio programs. A. C. NIELSEN COMPANY 2101 HOWARD ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 500 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK WORLD'S LARGEST MARKETING RESEARCH ORGANIZATION