database (BIA hereafter).
24
This data has also been used by academic researchers, includ-
ing
Jeziorski (2014a,b) and Sweeting (2009, 2013), who have focused on the post-1996
period. This database contains Arbitron (now Nielsen)
25
station ratings data for at least
the Spring and Fall reporting periods each year, including some measures for demo-
graphic sub-groups, detailed programming format classifications, technical information
(e.g., licensed transmitter power, signal coverage, including contour maps), information
on station personnel, and BIA’s estimates of annual station, as well as market, revenues. As
one would expect, these revenue estimates are closely related to audience size, market
share and format, but it is unclear whether this relationship reflects a very close relation-
ship that exists in reality or just the relationship that BIA assumes when making its esti-
mates. The database also contains a detailed ownership and transaction history for each
station, dating back to well before 1996. For some transactions, a price is recorded, but
when groups of stations, possibly from different markets, are traded, it may be very dif-
ficult to impute a price for each station. Recent additions to the BIA database include
information on HD and multicast programming, and market-level estimates of online
revenues.
Arbitron estimates commercial station ratings in over 270 geographic markets (the
exact set of smaller markets has changed over time due to changes in market population).
Arbitron markets are smaller than the designated marketing areas used to analyze local
television markets, and many of them coincide almost exactly with the Metropolitan Sta-
tistical Areas used by the US Census (
Arbitron Company, 2009). Listening in rural areas
outside of these urban markets is unmeasured. As part of its surveys, Arbitron also collects
data on non-commercial listening. Examples of this data are available through the Radio
Research Consortium (
http://www.rrconline.org). While simple market share data is
reported on a number of radio-related websites, detailed data for listening by specific
demographics, which is valuable to advertisers who want to target specific population
groups, is available through BIA subscriptions and through Arbitron.
The traditional way that Arbitron has measured audiences is by recruiting a sample of
the population and getting them to complete diaries that record stations that they listened
to for at least 5 min during quarter-hour periods. An obvious concern is that diary data
may contain systematic misreporting, especially when listeners change stations frequently
and may not always be aware of exactly which station they are listening to. In response
to this concern, as well as a desire to get data to advertisers and stations more quickly,
Arbitron began to switch to using electronic Portable People Meters (PPMs) in larger
24
http://www.biakelsey.com/Broadcast-Media/Media-Access-Pro (accessed March 1, 2015).
25
Nielsen purchased Arbitron in 2013, rebranding Arbitron as Nielsen Audio (http://www.nielsen.com/
us/en/press-room/2013/nielsen-acquires-arbitron.html, accessed February 15, 2015). As all of the work
discussed in this chapter used data prior to 2013, I will refer to “Arbitron” data.
353Radio