We’ve said for years that higher ratings begin with understanding how Nielsen measures listening. After all, knowing how the professor grades the test has helped more than a few students survive college.
Nielsen uses diaries in smaller markets and PPM electronic measurement in larger markets, but either way, programmers place enormous importance on P1s—“first preference” listeners who spend more time with your station than any other.
They’re your heavy users. They generate lots of quarter-hours and can represent a substantial portion of your total listening. Naturally, we assume these people LOVE the station. But do they?
Years ago, a newspaper interviewed a Nielsen participant who listened primarily in his car to Classic Rock. His recorded listening overwhelmingly favored one station. Program Director reaction: We’ve got a superfan!
Not exactly. The listener explained that his car antenna had been damaged in a car wash—and this was the only station he could receive without static. So much for brand loyalty. Sometimes your biggest P1 is actually a P1 for “the station that comes in.”
That story illustrates an important ratings lesson: Behavior doesn’t always reveal motivation. A diary records what respondents say they listened to. PPM electronically detects encoded station exposure. Both methodologies can tell us enormously valuable things about what happened. But neither necessarily explains why it happened.
Consider another heavy user who listens eight hours at work. Is your station really their favorite—or did the receptionist choose it? Is the morning show irresistible—or is yours simply the station that’s been playing in the warehouse since 2009? That’s where perceptual research becomes invaluable.
Good research goes beyond ratings to determine why listeners choose you, why others reject you, what they love, what they’d change, and what could persuade them to listen more. Ratings measure listening. Research helps explain it.
Lund Lesson
Never confuse heavy usage with unconditional love. Your P1s are enormously valuable—but understanding why they listen can be even more valuable than knowing how much they listen.
Lund Challenge
Take your top three ratings strengths and ask one more question about each: Why? Why are listeners choosing this daypart? Why are they staying longer? Why is this demographic growing? Don’t settle for knowing what happened in the ratings. Find out why—because that’s where your next ratings opportunity may be hiding.
Pic AI generated using Gemini.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats.