Nielsen Claims CBET Has Led To Ratings Growth

Nielsen Audio has fired back at Telos, after claiming last week that its Voltair unit promises a significant increase in ratings for broadcaster. (Click Here for the M-C Posting.)

According to an article by Nielsen's Chief Engineer and Brad Kelly, manager director for Nielsen Audio, “Radio’s AQH audience has grown by double digits in PPM markets among persons aged 6 and older” and characterized the year-to-year growth as “a reflection of a significant improvement in our PPM measurement system,”

Nielsen noted that field testing found an average increase of “about 15% in AQH audience” compared with the prior version of CBET among those stations tested, and added testing found that enhanced CBET improved detection for radio stations in all formats — with significant improvement reported in spoken-word format AQH ratings

Nielsen's patented technology for embedding audio content is called critical band encoding technology, or CBET. Broadcasters embed their audio content with these CBET codes, and the PPM devices passively detect each panelist’s exposure to encoded content.

In the last year, Nielsen has worked with the industry to update the definition of listening, as part of its continuous improvement program. According to the company, the goals were to bring audio’s metrics in line with other media and better reflect a more complex consumer environment featuring greater exposure to a variety of media, as well as more simultaneous usage. The outcome was a significant enhancement to CBET, which we introduced in the fourth quarter of last year.

“We’ve found that enhanced CBET makes the PPM codes stronger and more robust, which improves code detection in challenging acoustic environments such as low volume and/or high background noise conditions,” said Ramaswamy. “Enhanced CBET was thoroughly tested in the lab and the field before it was deployed, and we received extensive feedback from a team of technical experts from various radio groups. We continue to work closely with our clients to implement this technology.”

Since the roll out began in November 2015, nearly 3,000 U.S. stations have upgraded to enhanced CBET. This represents three-quarters of our subscribers and about 80% of the minutes measured by PPM.

Now that most stations have enhanced CBET, we’re seeing the results in the real world. The 13% year-over-year gain in listening among persons aged 6 and older closely parallels the increases we saw in the field tests. But double-digit growths among hard-to-reach Millennials (aged 18-34) and the key buying demographic of people 25-54 are especially impressive.

Average Quarter Hour Persons Increase – 2015 vs 2016

These effects were also felt across the industry—each of the major format categories gained compared to last year. Spanish Language, Urban, Spoken Word, Adult Contemporary (AC) and Classic Hits/Oldies formats each had increases that exceeded the overall average.

“All of these impressive metrics are testaments to the strength and value of the audio medium,” said Brad Kelly. “We are pleased to find new ways to help the industry monetize its valuable audience and identify emerging opportunities.”