Another Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 4)

 

The diary has arrives and even since that date another reminder letter and I think at least three phone call reminders have come. I got one on my voicemail and I hung up on the other two. I thought someone was trying to sell me an auto-warranty extension. 

Inside the diary box itself was yet another letter. They're promising $10 per diary. They push that ten-spot hard. But what the hey, it's basically a free tenner. Can't knock that.

Of course by that point you should have already begun keeping the diary.  But after 3 calls and 4 letters if you haven't, you are really quite bad at following instructions.

Another Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 3)

 

Since the second letter arrived the diary has also landed; I've not scanned any of it yet.  But at first glance, it looks very similar to the last one. [LINK] This communication came with five crisp dollar bills fulfilling the previous promise.

It says that each member of my household, who is 12 years or older, and fills out a diary, will earn us a $10 bonus check each.  I find it interesting that at the $10 mark they switch from cash to check.  I did go back and look, the price remains the same from 2019.

I've moved between each survey which makes me question their claim that households are randomly selected. They state plainly that every household in the U.S. has a chance of being selected, but not that it has an equal chance. Adjectives matter.

It makes me think of the quote often attributed to Disraeli "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Another Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 2)

I actually enjoy getting the occasional Nielsen survey.  I make a quick $6 even if I only complete the initial form. I can't imagine I help their data much as I am listening to non-commercial radio and NPR almost exclusively. My favorites are seldom local, so due to the power of the internet I am listening to stations in all 4 time zones of CONUS. 

But isn't that the reality of content today?  Your local morning zoo program is potentially competing with your favorite podcast, and other time-shifted content.  How does Nielsen cope with that?  From what their own numbers tell me, they're just ignoring it. Let the good times roll.

Another Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 1)

For the third time in all the dozens of places I've lived, my home has been selected for a Nielsen Radio Survey. Then just as now the initial communication came with two crisp dollar bills and the promise of a future fiver. Cheap as I am... the return envelope was in the mail the following day. 

But then like now, the opening letter came packed with a few crisp dollar bills. I look forward to seeing the diary when it comes. I will be anonymizing the documents as much as possible to protect Nielsen and their process. But I think their boilerplate language is safe to share, and I have noticed it's already widely shared online on numerous websites, including their own.

But I have to note that the advent of PPM was over 10 years ago. [LINK] I am somewhat surprised to still be seeing paper diaries in 2021. I continue to be surprised this isnt' done via a cell phone app.It paper more cost-effective? 

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 7)

And after it's over you receive a postcard thanking you, and again reminding you to return the diary for your long-promised $10. Mine was slightly mauled by the post, but the gesture remains clear.
My only afterthought these weeks later is how the diary system subtly prompts you to favor terrestrial AM and FM radio.  The instructions  specifically direct you to label stations as AM, FM, Internet or satellite. There are check boxes for AM and FM for you to do that, but none for Internet or Satellite.

The notion of podcasts not even addressed. TV content is routinely time-shifted now with DVR technology etc. Radio programs are as well in the form of podcasts, and other pre-recorded programs etc. But this minutia may not matter in the grand scheme of their survey system. The Nielsen survey seems geared toward live terrestrial radio, perhaps to the detriment of the other content providers.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 6)

Nielsen has it down to a science. Before I even completed the survey, I got a reminder letter with more crisp dollar bills, explaining the importance of the data, and reiterating for an Nth time that I have $10 coming to me if I can return the diary in under 3 weeks.

It's hard to imagine that there are people that get this far but fail to mail a postage-paid envelope to collect the $10. But I am sure it happens.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 5)

So here's the diary itself. The instructions are simplicity itself. Over the last 50 years Nielsen has made these more or less idiot-proof. I prefer to use the term idiot-resistant, as virtually nothing is truly idiot-proof.

Here's a page from the diary itself. Note that it is identical to the instructions. I'd be curious to know how many respondents know the correct brand, call sign and or frequency of the station they're listening to. I do, but I'm a radio geek. In this survey I am what statisticians refer to as an outlier.

Here's the last page. Basic demographic data: age, gender, education, ethnicity, employment status, children, and income. Interestingly it also includes an opinion section. The hilarity that must contain most of the time.

On the very last page, beside the edge that seals the diary for mailing, it further says "We sometimes recontact people for special studies. Returning this diary does not commit you to participate in these studies." I would guess this is more specific to ethnic groups who under-represented in the sample. Sadly Radio geek is not a recognized ethnicity.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 4)

This yellow flyer, about 7" x 4" was at the bottom of the box, I missed it on the first pass. It just reiterates who can participate, and who cannot, and again summarizes the simple instructions. They're really working hard at making this as easy as possible to complete.

The $10 Bonus award flyer is 6" x 7" and folded in half to fit in each respondents envelope. It's the same content as elsewhere, except for the (pretty reasonable) fine print:

"In order to receive your bonus check, Nielsen must receive your completed diary within three weeks of the "Finish" date, which is indicated on your diary. Payment for all members of the household whose diaries are received by Nielsen within three weeks of the "Finish" date will be mailed together as one check to the contact person at the household address. Distribution of the funds will be the responsibility of the household contact person. Bonus checks may be mailed by a third-party check vendor who will not try to sell you anything or ask you for money or sell/add your name/address to a mailing list. Checks will be shipped approximately six to eight weeks after Nielsen receives your completed radio ratings diary. Nielsen is not responsible for lost, late or misdirected mail. LIMIT ONE DIARY PER PERSON. Duplicate returned diaries will constitute fraud. Theft, diversion, reproduction, transfer, sale, or purchase of the bonus offer or the accompanying diary is prohibited and constitutes fraud. Offer valid only to intended recipients of Nielsen diary. Void where taxed, restricted or prohibited. Diary must be completed and returned during the relevant diary period. Nielsen reserves the right to verify identification. Fraudulent submissions could result in federal prosecution under the U.S. Mail Fraud statutes (18 United states Code, Sections 1341 and 1342)."

That last claim is a bit obtuse. Section 1341 is for "frauds and swindles" essentially obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses. This protects Nielsen in the rare scenario where you fake or copy some portion of the diary to defraud Nielsen. Somewhere out there is someone who would do that for $10. Section 1342 specifically addresses any fictitious, name, title or address. So reasonably no responding under a fake name. Neither of these prohibits making copies of the documents as Nielsen intimates.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 3)

As much as I appreciate the importance of a ratings system, it's hard to ignore the "Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes" vibe in the continual promise of future cash. But I suppose for most other participants, the ratings themselves are of little interest. They're driven by a combination of money and ease of participation. I am sure Nielsen has studied this as well and has a nice vector diagram that stands as a cultural proxy for laziness and greed.

Most radio listeners listen to local radio, in the car in the commute to and from work. However, in each letter, and this pamphlet Nielsen dives home the point "Listening is any time you hear radio- whether it is on AM, FM, the Internet or satellite." In 2019 most of my radio listening is on the internet, and a minority of those have actual terrestrial broadcasts. They failed to itemize podcasts, but I'll include those as a subset of internet.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 2)

It opens 'Dear Radio Listener"...

So the next thing that came was a box that looks like an order of blank checks. Inside is another letter and one envelope for each member of the household containing yet more crisp dollar bills, a diary, instructions and the promise of a $10 bonus award for each member of the household. Clearly I should have included the cats as house hold members.

I will scan more bits of the package this week.

Nielsen Radio Survey (Part 1)

For the second time in all the dozens of places I've lived my home has been selected for a Nielsen Radio Survey. Actually, the first time I found it in a new apartment in a recycle bin- a pile of junk mail belonging to a prior tenant. It was expired and I missed the opportunity. But I did keep the two dollars. 

But then like now, the opening letter came packed with a few crisp dollar bills. I look forward to seeing the diary when it comes.I will be anonymizing the documents as much as possible to protect Nielsen and their process. But I think their boilerplate language is safe to share, and I have noticed it's already widely shared online on numerous websites, including their own.

But I have to note that the advent of PPM was over 10 years ago. [LINK] I am somewhat surprised to still be seeing paper diaries in 2019. Even if just for sampling reasons they need to connect to a physical household, I'm surprised the envelope doesn't just contain a QR code for a secure cell phone app. But old methods work, and are often the most cost effective.

Radio Ratings Part 3: Nielsen

The AC Nielsen Company was founded in 1923 by Arthur Charles Nielsen, Sr. You'll note yesterday I said that Crossleys work in 1929 was the first radio ratings. There' a 6 year gap there to account for. Well, I'll get to that in a minute.

Arthur Nielsen was born the child of two accountants in Chicago back in 1897. He attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and graduated with an engineering degree in 1919. he worked for Iskop breifly on refridgeration equipment, but it didn't stick. He needed to get back to his roots, raw math and measurement. So in 1923 he borrowed 45 grand from his frat brothers and founded the AC Nielsen Company.

He shopped around the idea of product evaluation and other consumer surveys. It was very early in the game and it was a struggle to convince advertisers that this data was both useful and accurate. 140 trained field investigators made phone calls to a sample of drug and grocery stores. It wasn't until the mid 1930s that he entered the radio arena.
His inner accountant was continually irritated that radio ratings were based on bad data. People were prone to lie and forget interviewers to lead and obfuscate. He wanted better data. He found the audimeter. Claude Robinson a student at Columbia University developed a rough experimental device to record what radio stations had been listened to. It's uncertain if he even built a model or demonstrated it, but his Professor Frank Stanton did. RCA bought the patent just in case. Two professors at M.I.T. Prof. Robert welder and Louis F. Woodruff had developed the device anopther device and encountered the Robinson patent seeking their own patent. they proceeded with funding from John Shepard, of 680 WNAC-AM. In the end they had to buy the old patent from RCA. Field tests began in 1938. It was years before the device was truly ready for field use. But by 1950 they'd also adapted it for use with television.

But in 1939 ACNielsen was expanding internationally. Hooper had killed C.A.B. and in turn Nielsen would swallow him. The audimeter was far superior to any interview system. It still had faults though. It could record what channel was on and for how long... but not if anyone was actually watching.

The earliest version of the audiometer attached to the radio and tracking channel, time and duration of tuning. The early Audimeters contained tapes or cartridges which were mailed back to Nielsen weekly from each sample home. Later versions of the meter fed the information directly to Nielsen Media Research in real time by a dedicated phone line. In 1973 Nielsen introduced the "Storage Instantaneous Audimeter" that actually stored the data locally and was retrieved in a nightly data dump. It made possible the first set of daily national ratings.
More here.

In 1996, ACNielsen split off the field work portion of it's company forming Nielsen Media Research. NMR was acquired by Dutch conglomerate VNU in 1999. Neilsen now operates in more than 100 countries. Arthur died in 1980.