As part of its recently-announced “Accountability One” initiative, Radio One announced that it has created a new scheduling and ratings verification system for its Houston market which will provide a monthly accountability statement. Radio One decided to implement this system for its Houston market because of the MRC accredited methodology in use and the fact that Houston has had three years of experience with PPM technology, two in pre-currency and one in currency.
In Houston, Radio One proposes to monitor advertising schedules on a weekly basis and provide a monthly accountability statement after each PPM ratings period. Their expectation is that this will create a healthy dialog with advertisers on their Houston radio stations to ensure that the negotiated ratings are delivered in a timely fashion. Then, if the Houston stations fall short of ratings delivery, the GRPs can be made up within weeks, not months, of the advertising schedule, based on availability.
Similar to the Accountability One announcement, buyers are happy about the news. Pearl Kim, Supervisor, National Broadcast Carat LA tells RBR: “I think Radio One’s new system is awesome. I hope all the radio vendors will eventually follow suit so radio will be an accountable medium just like Network TV. One of the hurdles in getting clients into radio is accountability so with these types of systems in place it will be an easier sell.”
Commenting on this initiative, Barry Mayo, President of Radio, stated, "Radio One is pleased to be at the forefront of providing accountability to advertisers on our Houston radio stations. Our General Manager, Doug Abernethy, and his sales team have invested substantial time and effort in studying and understanding PPM’s results in Houston and are willing to stand behind anticipated ratings delivery. This is a significant advantage to our advertisers and evidences our commitment to customer satisfaction."
Radio One has no current plans to expand this new service to other markets all of which employ a different methodology that has yet to receive MRC accreditation.
