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Infinity, Phil Beswick looking to launch "Radio Ratings USA"

Only days after RBR first reported Infinity will not be re-upping with Arbitron (6/25 RBR Daily Epaper #124),

Infinity President/COO Joel Hollander has sat down with former Birch and AccuRatings President and current Media Audit President Phillip Beswick to formulate a way to launch "Radio Ratings USA," an alternative ratings service to Arbitron, targeting all the "major markets." The immediate goal is to meet with radio execs and the advertising community over the next 30-45 days and discuss the new service's viability.

Hollander tells RBR: "We would love to have something for the short term and the longer-term for the industry. And obviously, most of the industry is not overly-happy with the one-pony race."

What methodology would the service use?

"At the beginning it would be the same methodology as Arbitron, but again, that's a short-term solution. There's got to be a longer-term solution for the industry, and that's what we're going to find."

Other than a potentially less expensive ratings service, what else would be on your wish-list for Radio Ratings USA?

Says Hollander: "Anything that brings more accuracy and less wobbles. Anything that's going to put our business in a better light and help us grow our revenue."

Rumors have it that there's going to be a roundtable of radio executives in the near future that will get together on where this part of the business is going in the future.

RBR observation:

As we said in the in the in-depth "History of Radio Ratings" (RBR print, March), it's not easy to start a new ratings service - - especially one that launches with a methodology that has been described as more and more flawed. There's got to be a way to utilize the cell phone in surveys - - it begins with a mailing asking for the most convenient way to reach the participant. Finding willing participants who understand they'll be rewarded well (a gift certificate for example) and that the survey will be short is a good start as well.

Broadcasters have been down this road and they could be following a long list of dead soldiers. The other concern is getting a bunch of radio group heads to agree on anything - - especially on something that directly impacts their bottom line potentials. Joel and Phillip have a tough row to hoe in getting this off the ground. But who knows, if the agency community throws its support behind it and it's much more affordable, that would be a good start. The biggest problem would be asking radio groups to fund the whole thing. Look at how well the RAB's Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab has thus far been funded. We know Interep has kicked in $250K. Anyone else? We've tried to find out to no avail.