Nearly six years after I released an episode called Death of the Diary, It's the dawn of a new era for Canadian radio with the release of Radio Local + by Numeris.
Derrick Gray, Chief Research and Operations Officer at Numeris, joins me to explain Radio Local+—the hybrid ratings system replacing the online radio diary in 22 Canadian markets. The system combines streaming information with online and telephone surveys to estimate total listening, including traditional over-the-air radio.
Derrick explains how Numeris turns device-level streaming activity into demographic audience estimates, filters bots and abnormally long sessions, and determines whether a listener belongs to the local market. We also discuss why testing revealed significantly more audience reach than expected—and what Numeris had to fix before launch.
Radio Local + will deliver four ratings releases annually using a 13-week rolling average, replacing the diary’s two annual releases and 48-week average. That should give programmers and advertisers a more current view of changing listener behaviour.
The Three Best Things We Talked About:
Radio Local + is not the finished destination. It is the first stage of a larger Numeris audio strategy that could eventually include additional markets, national radio reach and audience metrics that are easier to compare with podcasts and other digital media.
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