Radio programmers are starting to get new data to chew on, now that Nielsen is on the scene.
The company has begun releasing details learned from its radio audience pilot as it begins its first diary survey this week in 51 small- and medium-sized markets.
More than 20% of people age 12 and over in the Lexington, Ky., market use cell phones only, and these folks listen to “substantially” more radio than homes with landlines, Nielsen found in initial results for its diary methodology.
Using address-based sampling for sample recruiting, Nielsen says it found cell-phone-only homes logged nearly 23 hours of radio listening per week compared to just over 19 hours for the total sample. In addition, this group listens to 3.5 radio stations compared to less than three stations among the total sample; it has an average quarter hour total radio rating of 17.3% vs. 14.3% rating for the total sample and skews younger, primarily between the ages of 18 and 34.
The Lexington pilot was conducted in December; it included 588 people from 336 households.
By using address-based sampling, Nielsen said it was able to include “a more representative sample than other recruitment systems.”
Nielsen uses a so-called “sticker” diary with pre-printed station call letters for a market. It claims the stickers “created no discernable bias.”
