Nielsen’s Fullam—Total Audio Measure Needed Now

INSIDERADIO


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015
The chairman of the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council says it’s time for Nielsen to make a decision about issues that have held up the rollout of its digital audio measurement service. "We can’t just stand still," Greater Media Philadelphia senior VP/market manager, John Fullam, told Inside Radio in an interview. At its Audio Client Conference in early December, Nielsen expressed its own frustration that the industry had yet to agree on several reporting issues, including how listening data should be reported when the stream carries a different ad load than the broadcast, and whether the components of the total audience should be broken out separately. "It would be great if everyone was pulling in the same direction and there was 100% agreement but that’s not going to happen," Fullam told Inside Radio. Nielsen announced at the conference that it was ready to make a decision if the industry couldn’t. "We’ve told the industry we can’t let this drag on indefinitely," Rob Kass, VP, product leadership, told attendees. "We’re ready to make a decision if need be." Now the Council, made up of Nielsen-subscribing broadcasters, seems to be saying this time has arrived. "We’re as anxious and as frustrated as anyone. This has dragged on longer than we would like," Fullam said. "We’ve got to get to a decision quickly and we’ve waited a reasonable period of time. I’m hoping Nielsen does make that decision because they’ve heard from the Council as to where a majority of broadcasters stand." Read more in "On The Inside With John Fullam" on p5.

Radio Rises Amid Overall Ad-Spend Drop. Buoyed by increased spending from automotive, restaurants and telco advertisers, local radio ad revenue jumped nearly 13% in Q3 2015 in 36 markets measured by Kantar Media. In contrast, overall ad spending on U.S. media fell 3.9% in Q3 to $36.4 billion. Of the 22 types of media monitored by Kantar, 16 reported lower ad spending last quarter. The losses can be attributed to several factors, including one less week in the National Football League this fall due to calendar scheduling, depriving media outlets of NFL-related ad revenue; and a lack of political spending in Q3 2015 compared to Q3 2014, when political advertising injected additional dollars in many media categories and markets. For the radio industry, Kantar says overall radio ad spending grew 5.1% in Q3, propped by strong local radio ad sales in Kantar-monitored markets. (Kantar’s markets represent about half the U.S. population and include 32 of the top 50 markets and 36 of the top 75.) National spot radio, however, slipped 3.9% last quarter, and network radio ad revenue declined 4.8%. Hispanic radio ad expenditures were flat compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date, radio categories are pacing similarly, with local radio up 9.6%; national spot down 2.5%; network radio off 5.2% and Hispanic radio up 3.3%. TV Falls—Television led a crew of media that experienced losses in the quarter;