Cheating with the radio clocks?
In an open letter, Giuseppe Scaglione, head of Radio 105, lists four reasons why he does not trust the measurement data from the Radiocontrol meter.
Radio Giuseppe Scaglione, head of Radio
105, lists four reasons in an open letter why he would like the
measurement data from the Radiocontrol clock. "Is Radiocontrol cheating?" This question begins an open letter from Giuseppe Scagli-one, which the managing director of the youth station Radio 105 recently sent to advertising and media agencies. The question is not just rhetorical. Although Scaglione does not accuse anyone of cheating, he concludes that the RC data "is useless for the advertising market." Scaglione's skepticism towards RC is not new: he has long preferred to use the reach data from the Wemf's MA Strategy survey for his station marketing, in contrast to the usual practice in the industry, which is largely based on the measured RC reach of the SRG research service. In his letter, Scaglione explains in detail what his mistrust of RC is based on. The busy head of Radio 105 is, of course, arguing for his own company, but he raises some fundamental questions about the RC system that are of broader interest.Essentially, Scaglione criticizes the fact that RC does not measure radio consumption from the Internet. Secondly, he found that RC showed better values for his radio station during a one-hour transmission failure than during normal transmission. He also criticized the fact that RC is inherently unable to adequately reflect the use by young representatives of certain lifestyles. And fourthly, he has indications that the RC sample could be too small.It is known that RC does not measure radio consumption from the Internet, so-called streaming. The system is only able to correctly assign the radio programs listened to (see box) if the time difference between transmission and reception is a maximum of three seconds. However, since even live stream reception is usually delayed more than this - for technical reasons - it falls by the wayside with RC. For many private radio stations, this use may still be marginal, but for cable station 105, which relies heavily on additional distribution via the Internet, this use could already have a certain relevance today. For Scaglione, the evidence seems clear: according to RC, Radio 105 lost 40 percent of its listeners last year. During the same period, however, livestream downloads on www. 105.ch increased by 338 percent to over half a million hits per month (unique clients). It is therefore possible that 105 has not lost listeners at all, as RC suggests, but that they are now listening to the station via the Internet instead of cable - and therefore with a delay. A second observation could confirm this: According to MA Strategy 2005, Radio 105 is in 4th place of all private stations in terms of reach (narrower user group) among 15 to 24-year-olds, the station's core target group. RC, on the other hand, puts the station in 14th place. Scaglione also knows that two completely different studies produce different results. However, he is surprised that only his radio station is 10 places lower in the RC rankings than in the Wemf rankings, while the rankings of the other stations are roughly the same. "No one has yet been able to explain the outlier of 105," says Scaglione. He has his own thoughts: the MA Strategy surveys the general use of the stations, so the answers are likely to include streaming. "The Wemf study therefore presumably also reflects that part of usage that RC cannot measure technically. This brings it closer to reality," says Scaglione.Scaglione's second point of criticism goes back to a broadcast interruption on February 3, 2004. At that time, Radio 105's signal dropped out completely between 2 and 3 p.m. due to technical work. Only static could be heard on the frequency. Nevertheless, RC reported an hourly reach of 16,100 listeners for 105 during this time. In the hours before and after, however, RC measured zero listeners during normal Radio 105 transmission. He has not received a satisfactory explanation for this from Publica Data, says the 105 boss. "If a station has 16,000 listeners during a transmission failure, RC loses all legitimacy in the market. "The third point Scaglione criticizes is that Radiocontrol does not take into account young people who represent a certain lifestyle (for example hip-hoppers) in the population, or only does so one-sidedly. His thesis: a hip-hop fan would never wear an RC watch because he would find it completely uncool. As RC watch wearers are also recruited exclusively via landline phone, but young people often only own a cell phone, young RC panelists are probably more conservative. "This circumstance is particularly problematic for young broadcasters," says Scaglione, who questions the representativeness of the RC panel.another argument, again based on a specific incident, points in the same direction: In weeks 8 to 10 of this year, RC showed around five minutes of listening time per day for Radio 105 in the target group of 35 to 44-year-olds. In weeks 11 and 12, however, listening time amounted to 307 and 278 minutes respectively. After that, it fell again. Why? Scaglione himself is the culprit: "I came into possession of an RC watch by chance via a 41-year-old RC panelist, which I then let 'listen' to Radio 105 for seven days," he explains. Of course, the listening time in this target group increased. But Scaglione is still surprised: His station had an industry-wide record listening time of 160 minutes in the aforementioned target group not only at the time in question, but for the entire month of March - obviously caused by a single clock. Radio 24, otherwise the industry leader, "only" achieved 49 minutes. "The fact that one clock carries so much weight, even for a regional-language station like Radio 105, shows that the RC samples are too small, especially for special-interest stations, and that the RC panel is therefore not representative," comments Scaglione. And he adds: "RC urgently needs to solve this problem, because with digital radio there will also be more special-interest stations. "Werbewoche also asked the SRG Research Service to clarify the individual points of criticism made by 105 boss Giuseppe Scaglione. Due to time constraints, SRG Head of Research Manuel Dähler was unable to check all the information for a well-founded response by the editorial deadline. A corresponding statement will follow at a later date, Dähler promised.
>> Click here for the statement.
105, lists four reasons in an open letter why he would like the
measurement data from the Radiocontrol clock. "Is Radiocontrol cheating?" This question begins an open letter from Giuseppe Scagli-one, which the managing director of the youth station Radio 105 recently sent to advertising and media agencies. The question is not just rhetorical. Although Scaglione does not accuse anyone of cheating, he concludes that the RC data "is useless for the advertising market." Scaglione's skepticism towards RC is not new: he has long preferred to use the reach data from the Wemf's MA Strategy survey for his station marketing, in contrast to the usual practice in the industry, which is largely based on the measured RC reach of the SRG research service. In his letter, Scaglione explains in detail what his mistrust of RC is based on. The busy head of Radio 105 is, of course, arguing for his own company, but he raises some fundamental questions about the RC system that are of broader interest.Essentially, Scaglione criticizes the fact that RC does not measure radio consumption from the Internet. Secondly, he found that RC showed better values for his radio station during a one-hour transmission failure than during normal transmission. He also criticized the fact that RC is inherently unable to adequately reflect the use by young representatives of certain lifestyles. And fourthly, he has indications that the RC sample could be too small.It is known that RC does not measure radio consumption from the Internet, so-called streaming. The system is only able to correctly assign the radio programs listened to (see box) if the time difference between transmission and reception is a maximum of three seconds. However, since even live stream reception is usually delayed more than this - for technical reasons - it falls by the wayside with RC. For many private radio stations, this use may still be marginal, but for cable station 105, which relies heavily on additional distribution via the Internet, this use could already have a certain relevance today. For Scaglione, the evidence seems clear: according to RC, Radio 105 lost 40 percent of its listeners last year. During the same period, however, livestream downloads on www. 105.ch increased by 338 percent to over half a million hits per month (unique clients). It is therefore possible that 105 has not lost listeners at all, as RC suggests, but that they are now listening to the station via the Internet instead of cable - and therefore with a delay. A second observation could confirm this: According to MA Strategy 2005, Radio 105 is in 4th place of all private stations in terms of reach (narrower user group) among 15 to 24-year-olds, the station's core target group. RC, on the other hand, puts the station in 14th place. Scaglione also knows that two completely different studies produce different results. However, he is surprised that only his radio station is 10 places lower in the RC rankings than in the Wemf rankings, while the rankings of the other stations are roughly the same. "No one has yet been able to explain the outlier of 105," says Scaglione. He has his own thoughts: the MA Strategy surveys the general use of the stations, so the answers are likely to include streaming. "The Wemf study therefore presumably also reflects that part of usage that RC cannot measure technically. This brings it closer to reality," says Scaglione.Scaglione's second point of criticism goes back to a broadcast interruption on February 3, 2004. At that time, Radio 105's signal dropped out completely between 2 and 3 p.m. due to technical work. Only static could be heard on the frequency. Nevertheless, RC reported an hourly reach of 16,100 listeners for 105 during this time. In the hours before and after, however, RC measured zero listeners during normal Radio 105 transmission. He has not received a satisfactory explanation for this from Publica Data, says the 105 boss. "If a station has 16,000 listeners during a transmission failure, RC loses all legitimacy in the market. "The third point Scaglione criticizes is that Radiocontrol does not take into account young people who represent a certain lifestyle (for example hip-hoppers) in the population, or only does so one-sidedly. His thesis: a hip-hop fan would never wear an RC watch because he would find it completely uncool. As RC watch wearers are also recruited exclusively via landline phone, but young people often only own a cell phone, young RC panelists are probably more conservative. "This circumstance is particularly problematic for young broadcasters," says Scaglione, who questions the representativeness of the RC panel.another argument, again based on a specific incident, points in the same direction: In weeks 8 to 10 of this year, RC showed around five minutes of listening time per day for Radio 105 in the target group of 35 to 44-year-olds. In weeks 11 and 12, however, listening time amounted to 307 and 278 minutes respectively. After that, it fell again. Why? Scaglione himself is the culprit: "I came into possession of an RC watch by chance via a 41-year-old RC panelist, which I then let 'listen' to Radio 105 for seven days," he explains. Of course, the listening time in this target group increased. But Scaglione is still surprised: His station had an industry-wide record listening time of 160 minutes in the aforementioned target group not only at the time in question, but for the entire month of March - obviously caused by a single clock. Radio 24, otherwise the industry leader, "only" achieved 49 minutes. "The fact that one clock carries so much weight, even for a regional-language station like Radio 105, shows that the RC samples are too small, especially for special-interest stations, and that the RC panel is therefore not representative," comments Scaglione. And he adds: "RC urgently needs to solve this problem, because with digital radio there will also be more special-interest stations. "Werbewoche also asked the SRG Research Service to clarify the individual points of criticism made by 105 boss Giuseppe Scaglione. Due to time constraints, SRG Head of Research Manuel Dähler was unable to check all the information for a well-founded response by the editorial deadline. A corresponding statement will follow at a later date, Dähler promised.
>> Click here for the statement.
