Have you ever wondered how TV and radio stations get rated, how exactly do they know how many people watch/listen to what and when? Nielsen and Arbitron are the two recognized forms that advertisers use to measure TV and radio audience size, but it needs to change.

Currently both Nielsen and Arbitron use a “diary” method, where they ask/pay volunteers to remember what they watched/listened to and write it down in a neat diary. These methods are outdated and often inaccurate.

Technology and social media have transformed the way we live our lives and how we get our media. Advertisers should consider the “social strength” of the media entities before buying. Unlike Nielsen and Arbitron which measures in approximates, both Facebook and Twitter gives you specific numbers of people those media entities reach. There is not any difference between a listener/viewer and a “Follower”/ “Fan”.

So let’s examine the Social Strength of Toledo’s TV stations.

Stations’ Facebook/ Twitter

• WTOL News 11 34,172/ 8,395
• 13ABC 28,749/ 8,382
• WNWO 6,894/1,740
• Fox Toledo 6,464/4,083

By using this way of audience measurement you can also rate the individual Anchor, reporter, or personality.

Anchors’ Facebook Twitter

• 11 Chrys Peterson 1,626/ 1,212
• 13 Sashem Brey 1,461/ 995
• 11 Melissa Voetsch 1,432/ N/A
• 11 Jerry Anderson 1,034/242

Weather Facebook Twitter

• 13 BlizzardBill Spencer 3,200/N/A
• 11 Robert Shiels 1,302/346
• 11 Chris Vickers 1,432/114
• 36 Doug Moats 171/142

Now let’s examine Toledo’s Radio stations’ Facebook “likes”, sadly not all stations are on Twitter yet.

RADIO FACEBOOK

• 925 Kiss Fm 32,207
• K-100 10,802
• Tim and Jeff Star 105 6,836
• 104.7 WIOT 6,095
• Juice 107.3 4,598
• Andrew Z Show 2,654
• River 2,648
• 94.5 WXKR 1,755
• Star 105 1,437
• WSPD 1370 1,344
• 106.5 The Ticket 1,146
• 100.7 The Vibe 894
• 93.5 WRQN 453
• 107.7 The Wolf 2874

It should be noted that Diane Larson, Sashem Brey, Andrew Z, have all maxed out the Facebook limit of 5,000 friends on their personal pages. The above Facebook numbers are based on “likes” of their “fan” pages. Although Fox Toledo is ranked 4th, I believe they give the best content on Facebook via breaking news stories, viral content and promotional announcements on a consistent basis. They are well worth a “like” on Facebook.

The above numbers are some additional information as to whom in Toledo has the biggest social reach. New studies indicate that up to 66% of all internet usage is on Social Media websites, so people are no longer getting their news primarily via television or radio. To prove my point let me ask… how did you hear about the death of Whitney Houston? The majority of your answers will be from a social media website.

I hope the above information challenges the media entities to think “outside the box” when presenting their audience reach numbers to advertisers. Times have changed and so should the way we measure local TV and radio stations.

Jeremy Baumhower gives genius everyday via Tweet @jeremytheproduc

Tags: Jeremy Baumhower, Media Watch

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 7:37 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Media, Media Watch.
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