The PPM Coalition (which might better be named the Anti-PPM Coalition) has found a ready ally in consultant Randy Kabrich. His latest data analysis concludes that while most stations saw AQH ratings go down once Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) was introduced in their market, Spanish and Urban formats were hit much harder than non-ethnic stations. Click the headline for his complete chart.
Kabrich sayes he sought to answer the question, “What has happened to the diary book market leaders in PPM?” He examined the top 10 stations in the last diary book for their respective markets and compared them to the current (June) PPM monthly.
The consultant focused on Average Quarter Hour ratings, arguing that AQH is what is used as currency for ad buys. “Share, which Arbitron uses, is not only not currency, it really can’t be used to compare diary to PPM because of the vast differences in the PUR [Persons Using Radio],” Kabrich said. And he used the Adults 18-49 “because this is the primary currency for the ethnic stations (and it’s close to having the lead again for all general market buys).”
“Arbitron continues to use 12+ share in their comparisons which not only disguises a number of these issues, it is simply not currency and is irrelevant,” Kabrich added.
Here are his conclusions and a market-by-market chart.
Summary of findings:
Comparing the final diary book to the current PPM (A18-49 ratings)
Hispanic formatted stations lost an average of 42% of their ratings and dropped 5 ranks
Urban formatted stations lost an average of 34% of their ratings and dropped 2 ranks
Non-ethnic formatted stations lost an average of 16% of their ratings but held their ranks
Bottom line: from diary to PPM, in currency ratings, the Urban and Hispanic stations have more than double the loss of the non-ethnic stations.
Source: Randy Kabrich
