While diary keepers typically write down two or three stations in the course of a week, we know that people listen to more stations than that. Independent research suggests that most people listen to at least four stations and some people have up to 10 stations programmed on their radios.
We also know that most listeners are impatient incurable button-pushers. If they don’t hear something they like, they are quick to hit the next pre-set in search of something better.
PPM confirms that people listen to more than two or three stations. But oddly, PPM finds very little button-pushing. According to PPM, the majority of listeners turn the radio on, listen for a short period of time, then turn the radio off.
Depending on the station and market, button-pushing might make up as little as ten or twenty percent of listening episodes. On average, we found that 4 out of 5 PPM panelists don’t bother to try a second station before they switch off the radio.
The suggestion that 80%+ of PPM panelists don’t bother to check out a second station sounds odd and is contrary to everything we know about radio listeners. Broadcasters might be a bit skeptical of a measurement system that finds no evidence of button pushing.
PPM shows dramatically lower listening levels than the diary and one has to wonder whether this apparent behavior of PPM panelists explains the lower listening estimates. When PPM identifies a radio station and then the audio switches to an unidentifiable source, it is recorded as a switch to non-encoded media. No more radio credit is given. But what if the participant really just switched stations, but PPM couldn’t identify it? Could this explain lower listening estimates and the absence of button pushers with PPM?
Arbitron seems to acknowledge that PPM loses stations regularly because there is a prevision for a station to get credit even when PPM loses it. If a panelist is listening to a station, but then PPM loses the station, the station will receive that lost credit if PPM finds the station again within three minutes. However, if PPM does not identify the station until after three minutes has passed, no radio credit is given.
These are our questions:
What happened to button-pushers. Why doesn’t PPM confirm listener behavior that is well documented? How does Arbitron explain such a high proportion of listeners who turn on the radio, listen briefly, then turn the radio off? PPM estimates show lower radio TSL (time spent listening) than any other methodology. What studies have been done to prove that PPM is right and the other methodologies are wrong?
To fully understand button pushing, we have to see respondent level data, watching as people move from station to station. The old "mechanical" where we got a print-out of each inputted diary gave us this. There is no equal in PPM.
Posted by: Richard Harker | June 15, 2009 at 02:27 PM
Button Pushing is an interesting behavior. Other mediums call it bounce. How do we measure listening bounce in radio? Would bounce be considered any TSL than 30 seconds? How would you use the bounce measure if Arbitron made the measure available by station and day part?
Posted by: Cume Catcher | June 13, 2009 at 12:37 AM