800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 Exclusive: Radio gets own committee on influential Council For Research Excellence. High-ranking radio industry execs are taking a hands-on role to improve the measurement system that radio is bought and sold on. For the first time in its 10-year history, the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) has formed a separate committee dedicated exclusively to audio. More than a ratings watchdog, the CRE was formed in 2005 to help improve media measurement by conducting and publishing major studies into various aspects of audience measurement. It identifies specific measurement issues and hires a third party research firm to study them and provide answers on how Nielsen can improve its methodology. It has conducted research in advance of Nielsen rolling out a new product or making a significant change, with the findings applied before the product launched. Composed of senior-level research pros from media companies, agencies and advertisers, it’s funded by Nielsen but not beholden to it. Cumulus Media, Radio One, iHeartMedia, Univision, CBS Radio, the RAB, Katz Media Group, Magna Global, and of course, Nielsen each have a seat on the first-ever CRE audio committee. Because it can field third party research projects, it has more independence and teeth than the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council, according to Greater Media VP of program development Buzz Knight, who chairs the committee. “It can frame questions around research and how to improve methodological issues,” Knight says. “It has the ability to conduct research that no one company likely could undertake on its own,” CRE facilitator Richard Zackon says. Major independent study planned to improve how Nielsen measures radio. After months of collaboration, top radio research executives next month are expected to propose a significant study designed to improve how Nielsen measure radio. The Council for Research Excellence audio committee plans to submit its proposal to the full Council at its June meeting. The committee has considered everything from how to enhance small market measurement to improving sample quality in large markets. “We’ve had a lot of healthy, open-minded discussion and on a bunch of important topics,” says Greater Media’s Buzz Knight, who chairs the committee. The full Council will need to approve the proposal before work can begin and a RFP is drafted. “Once we have costs, the Council will vote on whether that’s how they want to spend their money” says Univision EVP of audience measurement, innovation and analytics Ceril Shagrin, who chairs the full Council. CRE isn’t publicly saying what the proposal will be, other than it will focus on Nielsen Audio methodology. Knight says he’s keen on “something that improves measurement quality across every market: small, medium and large.” The committee is staying away from the Voltair controversy. “That’s more of a processing issue,” Shagrin says. “We focus more on methodological research.” Once the research is completed, it’s made public and presented to Nielsen through what CRE facilitator Richard Zackon calls an “insights to practice” process. “We NEWS INSIDE >> say, here’s what you do, here’s what we’ve learned, how can we apply what we’ve learned to what you do.” Council doesn’t control what Nielsen does. “But when a group of its Lawmakers Rally Against major clients puts forth some grounded concerns that they’ve researched, they’re able to Proposed Ad Tax influence what Nielsen does,” Zackon says. Changes [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 Radio’s seat on CRE is helping raise awareness for the medium. The Council for Research Excellence membership is stacked with heavy hitters from the advertising and media world, with members from the biggest ad agencies and the most powerful media companies. That radio now has a seat at the table is seen as a positive for the industry. Since the audio committee formed, “it has made everyone on the council more aware of audio,” CRE facilitator Richard Zackon says. For instance, when the data quality committee or the ROI committee launches a study of its own, audio is now part of the conversation. “It has brought focus to the Council on issues of audio,” Zackon says. What’s more, radio execs have taken positions on committees other than just audio, which council chair and Univision EVP of audience measurement, innovation and analytics Ceril Shagrin says has brought radio into important measurement conversations that involve more than one media. “The members, who come from other lines of work than audio, have been tremendously open-minded and accepting and willing to share what they know,” says audio committee chair Buzz Knight. The goal is to get different committees working together to improve CRE-funded research projects. “The results are more impactful when you get people with diverse interests working together,” Zackon says. Lawmakers rally against ad tax changes. A proposal to change how businesses can write-off advertising expenses is meeting stiff pre-emptive opposition in Congress. Roughly 60 lawmakers have signed a bipartisan letter that combats efforts to change ad tax deductibility as part of any broader tax reform. The letter will be sent to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), according to media regulatory news site KatyOnTheHill. It’s being circulated among House members by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Kevin Yoder (R-KS) with a cut-off date of this Friday. The letter warns of the negative consequences to the U.S. economy of changes to current ad tax regulations. “Such changes would be severely detrimental to local advertisers, broadcasters, print media, online service providers, national media companies, news-gathering organizations, and other firms that rely on advertising as their primary source of income,” the letter states. “Imposing a new cost on advertising would threaten the ability of these businesses to continue to support jobs and offer the high quality news, information, and entertainment that our constituents rely upon.” Under current law, advertising receives the same tax treatment as any other normal business expense – it is deductible in the year it is incurred. The ad community’s message is pretty simple: Congress should keep its hands off ad tax deductibility. Association of National Advertisers EVP Dan Jaffe says changes to the tax code would “only serve to hurt businesses trying to stimulate the economy and provide jobs for hardworking Americans.” The National Association of Broadcasters is among the trade groups working alongside the ANA urging Congress not to lump advertising into any update of tax law. Survey: ‘Beltway Influentials’ Tune to Radio. Fielded in February, the Washington in the Information Age survey included 120 Capitol Hill staff members, 600 private sector policy professionals about 400 federal executives. The top takeaways from the online survey are an acceleration of adoption of smartphones as primary digital devices and continued reliance on traditional forms of communications, including radio. The average private sector professional and federal executive said they listen to radio during their morning commute, while the average Capitol Hill staffer reads email newsletters on a mobile device (presumably while using mass transit). Across all three respondent categories the study found areas of alignment through the afternoon and evening, when most members of all three groups consume websites on a computer at their desks and radio during the commute home. “Whether checking email newsletters while watching TV in the morning, monitoring social media while reading websites at lunchtime, or engaging on ‘second screen’ while watching TV before bed, or scrolling content over mobile while listening to the radio driving – the DC market never rests,” the study concludes. Survey respondents indicated higher levels of trust in media overall compared to the last time the survey was conducted in 2012. CBS Radio app marries photos with Bingo. A new photo sharing app developed by CBS Local Digital Media is helping the company interact with its audience while engaging in a little shameless promotion. Pingo, which is shorthand for photo [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2015 bingo, is being heavily promoted on CBS Radio station streams. After downloading the app to their mobile device, users can win prizes by taking photos and placing them on a virtual game card. The boards change daily and run the gamut from major events (March Madness) to seasonal subjects (Spring Fling) to evergreen themes (bad selfies). Contestants fill out the squares with photos from their phone. A timed window is set for entries; everyone who gets the Pingo card correct is entered to win the prize assigned for that game. Consistent with the company’s digital strategy, Pingo promotes all things CBS. “We’ve been looking for ways to promote our concerts, tentpole events and our sister divisions,” CBS Local Digital Media president Ezra Kucharz says. For instance, during the ACM Awards (broadcast on CBS), a Pingo challenge involved snapping pictures of what you were munching on or sipping while taking in the awards show. Other challenges have promoted new books from CBS-owned publisher Simon & Shuster. Kucharz wouldn’t disclose how many times Pingo has been downloaded other than to say the number is in line with company expectations. Wheeler balks at FCC revisiting political ad disclosure rules. Heading into the 2016 presidential election, Federal Communication Commission chairman Tom Wheeler says he has no immediate intentions to tackle the agency’s political ad disclosure rules. His comments come as fresh efforts to require candidates to include more disclosures in their radio and TV commercials are failing to gain traction in Congress.