Archive for November 12, 2009
AndoMedia’s Mea Culpa
Late last week AndoMedia released audience data for their universe of measured Internet radio stations, debuting some new definitions and two rankers, one defining domestic US listening. The changes were greeted with disapproval from the advertising community, particularly the radio ad community. Ando, it appears, had misjudged that segment of the buying community’s attachment to traditional radio audience metrics such as AQH and Cume.
“The changes were made with the best of intentions,” according to Mike Agovino, Chief Operating Officer, Triton Media, who owns AndoMedia, “but they should have been better communicated. Now people are confused and upset, and they should be. We have to do a better job of communicating with buyers and agency people.”
To that end, AndoMedia hosted a 45 minute webinar today to review the new metrics and the thinking behind them. Patrick Reynolds, Sr. VP at AndoMedia took us slide by slide through the new terms and definitions, emphasizing several times that these new metrics have been added to the measurement terms already provided by Ando. AQH and Cume are still available for stations and agencies to use if they prefer (this was definitely not effectively conveyed in the release.)
I agree with Agovino that this could have been avoided with better communication upfront. I think Ando’s intentions in adding new measurement terms were good – they’re seeking to enhance the data to reflect the fact that they’re providing active actual data rather than estimates. Reynolds says they are seeking to make their measurement platform fair, accurate and consistent for all stations. Unfortunately, they missed a step in releasing the information, failing to presell it properly to key parties. I think they were also the target of some mud slinging by their competition, those who have favored less accurate, estimated ratings.
I hope the industry will resume its focus on developing an easy to understand and use single measurement platform for the industry. Let’s move on…
