old vs. new

Just a little revitalization, because what exactly has changed? In the old setting, there were many different reach studies. SKO (numbers display), NLO (round numbers), NOM (print) and VINEX (online). With the arrival of the new full-fledged reach survey, the National Media Survey (NMO), each individual reach survey will be revamped and improved. This cross-media design of the new search is the first of its kind in the world. The new search will be rolled out in phases for each channel. The new listening poll started on January 1 of this year. The first print numbers under the new NMO were already announced last year and TV will follow later this year. With this media, shocking changes in data can be seen to a lesser extent. But it’s different with radio.

Channels cut in half

With radio, half of the listening time “seems” to be gone. Some channels cut their numbers in half. This is due to the new research design of NMO. It is more accurate than before. Committee members used to keep diaries noting which radio stations they listened to. From 8 minutes onwards, people were allowed to tick the “15 minutes”. There are two problems with this: first, 8 minutes isn’t a quarter of an hour, and second, people don’t remember what stations they listened to in the day and they overestimate the duration. The new setup works with a Shazam-like app (a music recognition app). This app recognizes the station that is playing and measures the exact listening time from three minutes. It also measures up in stores, for example, where you don’t consciously know which channel is on, but you subconsciously hear things. So are the commercials.

New data, new opportunities

With this much more accurate data, the number of minutes we listen seems to be a lot less than we always thought. But that in and of itself doesn’t matter. Consumers still listen to the same stations as before. Another advantage is that we no longer have to wait long for listening data (which is published monthly over an average period of 2 months), but we do receive it on a weekly basis. This gives us more insight into listening patterns and we see the impact of some measures, such as Top2000, “voice” and earnest demand more clearly. As a media agency, this enables us to make more detailed plans and make finer adjustments. We can scan for ports better and know better when your target group is listening to which channel. The number of GRPs is lower at the moment, but with this knowledge we can plan and improve more accurately in the future with a comparable or even better end result.

What now?

The plans we’ve made so far are based on historical data. While we will soon settle in with the new data. To bridge this difference, a temporary index was created. Consider moving from guilders to euros. Think of it this way: you buy a loaf of bread. Whether it’s 2 guilders or 1 euro, you’ll get the same bread. To express this in GRPs: If I made 300 GRPs in 2 weeks with 4 pips a day on 10 channels, that would be 150 GRPs. However, the impact of the campaign has not changed. Spots on the day remain the same.

In short: if you keep doing what you did, you’ll get what you got. But the new listening search provides many more opportunities for more targeted use of audio campaigns with better results!