The Nielsen Company confirms that the first sticker diaries ever used in the United States went out last week. As RBR/TVBR reported last month, a test is being run this month in one of the 50 markets where Nielsen will begin US radio measurement in 2009. It is still a deep, dark secret though which market is the site of the test. Nielsen doesn’t want any station to be able to try to skew the data.
Meanwhile, Arbitron CEO Steve Morris is standing his ground. He told the company’s consultant fly-in last week that the current US radio ratings leader is “not going to give an inch to the Cumulus sticker diary.” Cumulus Media signed with Nielsen to provide radio ratings in 50 smaller US markets and Clear Channel is also subscribing in the 17 markets where it also has stations.
