| The primary income for a radio station is the revenue it | | | | their voices heard. At other places these rating |
| earns from broadcasting commercials. So they will | | | | agencies also pay to a section of the people for |
| have sales representatives who will pitch business | | | | participating in these surveys. |
| owners to air their commercials on the radio station in | | | | How is the rating calculated? |
| return for a price. | | | | The rating agencies then add up these figures for a |
| Most of the advertisers would be interested in knowing | | | | large sample size to estimate the potential number of |
| the total number of listeners and the tastes and | | | | listeners to a particular radio program. |
| preferences of these listeners before buying any | | | | How does that affect the advertisement income of a |
| advertisement slots. The primary task then is to | | | | radio station? |
| estimate the number and types of listeners subcribing | | | | Larger and more relevant the listener base, greater |
| to a particular program that is broadcasted | | | | would be the willingness of advertisers to spend on |
| How is the number of listeners estimated? | | | | airing commercials. The job of the sales representative |
| This estimation is done by media research or media | | | | is then to use these ratings from media research |
| rating companies. Nielsen and Arbitron are the two well | | | | companies to convince the advertiser that they can |
| known media research companies of the world. | | | | reach out to a large and relevant market by the |
| These media research companies first choose a | | | | advertising. |
| sample of few houses that statistically represents the | | | | Conclusion If a radio station commands good listeners' |
| total population of the community. This is done | | | | base and if the statistics is presented across to |
| because it is not possible to be including all individual | | | | advertisers in a credible format, there is no dearth of |
| listeners in the survey. The selected houses then | | | | advertisers willing to spend on airing commercials. This |
| participate in periodical surveys(daily, weekly or | | | | however begins with broadcast of quality programs to |
| monthly) to share their opinions about the various | | | | attract the desired profile of listeners. |
| programs aired during the period. | | | | Anyone planning to build a radio station must therefore |
| Now a days several media rating agencies use | | | | first look at producing good quality contents for |
| several advanced pocket devices that monitor and | | | | broadcast. Every thing else eventually falls into the right |
| connect this data automatically. Some times the people | | | | place. |
| will participate in these surveys for free only to get | | | | |