Regarding "National Pacings Dismal for Q1" (1/23/08 RBR #15).
Thank you for showing what the RAB/Forester Study showed in 2005 regarding the future of radio billing from the advertiser and agency community: If radio moves to electronic measurement (PPM), they will have more confidence in the data – regardless what it shows – and put money into radio in those markets. As you indicated, I believe there is a strong correlation to Philadelphia being the only market in the top 10 that is pacing ahead of last year, and Houston is only 7% behind last year’s Q1. Did anyone else notice that Philadelphia’s 11.0M is also only 600K behind Los Angeles? Remember, Philadelphia and Houston did not become PPM currency markets until late last spring/early summer. Media plans don’t change overnight, but this is great news for Philadelphia and Houston.
How much more evidence do we need to move forward with PPM? I also believe the data from the PPM panel that is in place for markets such as Chicago and Los Angeles should be released as non-currency "test" data so we all can get used to this transition and, as Walt Disney said, we "Keep Moving Forward".
Bob Michaels, President
Bob Michaels’ MediaSense, LLC
www.mediasense.info
