Posted by Bud on December 04, 2009 at 14:16:10:
Lewis Lazare asks a question that has been on the minds of many in his media column in today's Chicago Sun-Times:
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Is Arbitron cooking ratings numbers?
December 4, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE Media & Marketing columnist
Even as Clear Channel Radio Chicago's urban adult contemporary-formatted WVAZ-FM (102.7) was being crowned victor in the 25-to-54 adult demo in the November Arbitron ratings book for Chicago on Wednesday, an interesting drama was being played out in Washington, D.C., where Arbitron CEO Michael Skarzynski was appearing before a House of Representatives committee investigating whether Arbitron's portable people meter data-gathering technology could ultimately silence some minority-focused radio stations that don't think they are getting a fair shake in the Arbitron ratings. WVAZ is not minority-owned, but it does have a significant minority listener base.
Skarzynski's appearance before the congressional panel Wednesday was apparently intended to shoot down suspicions that Arbitron data -- or the way it is collected -- inaccurately reflects actual radio listening habits, especially those of minorities.
To support his argument, Skarzynski singled out an article this week in trade publication Inside Radio that noted the urban adult contemporary format is now the most-listened-to format in the top 16 PPM markets. Still, the current popularity of the urban adult format has some Chicago radio executives wondering whether Arbitron, to avert any unwanted action by Congress, might in recent months have been reallocating its portable people meters -- and/or weighting the data from those meters -- in a way that skews the results more heavily in favor of minority-oriented formats.
Arbitron was quick to defend itself Thursday. "We're absolutely not doing anything different -- our people meters are distributed to reflect the census data in each market," insisted Deirdre Blackwood, Arbitron senior vice president of corporate communications. "We have not made any changes in the way we weight the data from those meters."
Derrick Brown, director of urban programming at Clear Channel Radio Chicago, also quickly dismissed any connection between the congressional hearings involving Arbitron and WVAZ's dominant performance in the Arbitron November book.
Instead, Brown pointed to Steve Harvey's significant investment in developing his Chicago audience base as a major reason for WVAZ's strong showing. "Steve was here twice in recent weeks, and we have invested more in marketing his show," explained Brown. Harvey catapulted to third place in the November Arbitron book from a tie for eighth place in October among adults 25 to 54.