In a major change of policy, broadcast ratings data will be no-longer be made available in Canada.
The Summer 2022 PPM ratings released last week for the period running from May 30 to August 28 were released with a note stating “Effective the start of the 2022-23 broadcast year (August 29, 2022), the Radio Topline Reports will no longer be produced. The final report will encompass the period ending on August 28, 2022.” This will effect not only the five PPM markets released quarterly, but the twice yearly diary surveys in twenty one markets, and all national weekly ratings reports for television.
The final Summer 2022 surveys for Calgary, Edmonton, Montréal (Anglo and Franco), Toronto, and Vancouver are available on our Numeris Ratings page.
Numeris has failed to respond to any inquiries on the change in policy.
INSTANT INSIGHT: While stations and advertisers will still have access to the ratings data, this short-sighted move takes away the ability to fuel discussion and debate in the public sphere. The 6+ or 12+ data made public gives just a sliver of the overall picture, but is enough
A good percentage of the Google searches bringing people to RadioInsight are people asking what the ratings of their favorite station or show are. There’s a reason many stations position with “Rated #1” or “#1 For XXX”. People want to feel like they are included in making something successful. Taking access to that data away from public consumption will be just yet another way to make people not care about broadcast product.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com