Arbitron Inc. says it will implement weighting by the language preference of Hispanic diary keepers. Weighting is a standard statistical technique used to compensate for any over-sampling or under-sampling of a particular demographic characteristic in the returned diaries that are used to tabulate audience estimates.
“Weighting by language preference would allow stations and advertisers that target specific segments in the Hispanic community to reach those consumers more effectively,” said Owen Charlebois, president, U.S. Media Services, Arbitron Inc.
The ratings firm uses age/sex, geography and in some markets, race/ethnicity as weighting variables in its local market radio ratings.
The company is designing software modifications it needs to use language preference as an additional variable in the tabulation of radio audience estimates in Hispanic markets. The approach that the company is planning to use for language-preference weighting would divide the Hispanic sample into two language-preference groups: Spanish-dominant and non-Spanish-dominant. Arbitron would weight the returned diaries for each of these groups against a pre-determined estimate of the language preference of the Hispanic population in each market.
Arbitron intends to announce the timing and other details of the project plan early next year.
Arbitron to Use Language Preference of Hispanic Diarykeepers
Arbitron to Use Language Preference of Hispanic Diarykeepers