Nielsen, Telos Alliance At Odds Over Hot Box

Nielsen has broken its silence on the provocative audio-processer that increases the likelihood of encoded broadcast signals being detected by its ratings meters. Voltair maker the Telos Alliance shot back with a snarky response that began, “Nielsen Schmielsen!”

In a brief, carefully-crafted memo obtained by InsideRadio, Nielsen said it’s conducting a “thorough assessment” of the Voltair box, and that it doesn’t recommend clients use it until the tests are complete and have been validated by the Media Rating Council.  Nielsen says it’s heard from clients during the last few months inquiring about whether Voltair improves encoding and could cause a ratings increase.

“Nielsen is in the process of evaluating and testing the Voltair product, and we have engaged the MRC to provide validation of the testing results,” the company tells clients, adding that it is working with the Telos Alliance on evaluating its effect.

The company says it will provide additional updates.

Until then, Nielsen says it “does not recommend that clients use Voltair until the testing and validation is complete.”

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In an email to Voltair customers, Telos Alliance CEO Frank Foti noted that Nielsen isn’t telling clients not to use the box. “Nielsen doesn’t recommend any audio processor, and probably shouldn’t try to police audio processing,”

Foti writes.  The hardware has become a prevalent fixture in the audio chains of stations in PPM markets, especially the majors.  More than 300 units are in use and demand has outstripped supply. Programmers using it say it has a direct impact on ratings, especially news, talk and sports stations."

Richard Harker

According to Richard Harker at Harker Research, "Voltair only fills in the listening gaps that an imperfect encoding/decoding process misses. You’re not getting bonus quarter-hours, you’re getting more of the quarter-hours you’ve earned."

Last week, Harker's blog alleged PPM's could 'kill' some formats: Click Here

The overriding purpose of Voltair is to increase your confidence that those ratings accurately reflect the habits of your listeners, according to Telo Alliance.

The company says operators should keep the following in mind:

• Even one listener device worth of data can make a measurable difference in your ratings.
• Insights into how your audio content is handled during the watermarking process can show you ways to improve the robustness of your encoding.
• Consideration of listening environments can guide changes that may improve the reliability of watermark decoding on listener devices.
• When you have confidence in the end-to-end watermark system performance of your stations' signals, you also have more confidence in the relationship between ratings and your programming decisions.
• Voltair won’t increase your actual listenership, but it will help you be more confident that listeners to your station participating in the watermark-based ratings process are correctly measured.