“IT ALL STARTS WITH THE CUME”

I’ve heard that phrase many times over my years in the business. It’s just as true today. “Weekly Cumulative Persons” in Nielsen Audio reports is the official way to say “Weekly Cume” and “Weekly Listeners.” (Nielsen Audio now also measures Daily Cumulative Persons in PPM markets.)

Weekly Cume is a powerful metric. It is the estimated number of people who enter your business and stay for the minimum time (typically five minutes).  Week cume is sort of a head count. It is similar to “circulation” in the print world and “unique visitors” in digital usage analysis.

I usually cite Weekly Cume data for two reasons:

(1.) It is a powerful metric.

(2.) As a journalist, most Nielsen Audio data is not available to me. Stations, producers and networks who are subscribers get much, much more information from Nielsen Audio.

I am bringing up Weekly Cume today because a couple of readers told me off-the-record that station folks don’t pay much attention to it. AQH is what they want and what they use. So, when you read my stuff please keep in mind, I am talking about Weekly Cume.

Several readers told me confidentially that they were surprised by what I’ve been reporting the last two days.  They had no idea that Weekly Cumes for some of the biggest NPR News stations had seen substantial declines when I compared estimated Weekly Cume from March 2016 and September 2016.

Nielsen subscribers get detailed information via Radio Research Consortium (RRC) such as quarter hourly listening in all hours and dayparts, tune-ins, tune-outs, duration of listening.  One station programmer told me NPR News nationally has had 10 straight months of AQH growth in PPM markets. Well and good, but the size of the “listener lake” in some places is getting smaller.

One reader pointed out that picking six months is arbitrary and random.  Yes it us. So is any other comparison over time.  I choose six months because it would keep the continuity of the election cycle. Another reader pointed out that ratings “are just numbers” and lack context.  True, but this is what we’ve got.

I imagine when I reported the declines, I surprised the folks at WBEZ because I did not hear back from them. I have always had wonderful associations with folks at WBEZ.  A few years ago I did marketing work for Sound Opinions. Perhaps they didn’t know that their Weekly Cume has fallen for six straight months.

A LOOK AT MORE STATIONS with SIMILAR PATTERNS

As I mentioned in Wednesday’s story, 10 of 13 (77%) NPR News stations in the list of the top twenty noncommercial stations ranked by Weekly Cume saw the number of weekly listeners decline between March 2016 and September 2016. Nielsen Audio estimated Weekly Cume data for 10 of 13 (77%) NPR News stations lost weekly listeners. Four stations – WBEZ, WBUR, KPCC & KCRW combined lost almost 600,000 weekly listeners in the six month period. KPCC’s Weekly Cume dropped 21%, WBUR dropped 27%, WBEZ lost 22% and KCRW lost 19%.

I choose to use WBEZ for a closer look yesterday in part because they are the sole NPR News voice in the market. Therefore there likely are no competing stations with same or very similar programming.  Today we have six month trends by month for KPCC, KCRW and WBUR.  I’ve added a chart to WGBH to keep WBUR in context. 

THIRD COAST FESTIVAL WINNERS ANNOUNCED • MORE ABOUT WBEZ’S DECLINE IN WEEKLY LISTENERS

Public radio used to have several competitions to recognize its best work. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) sponsored an annual awards presentation at the Public Radio Conference (PRC) and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) had the annual Golden Reels competition. CPB’s event disappeared when the PRC went away in the early 2000’s. NFCB ended the Golden Reels a couple of years later.

These days the Public Radio News Directors (PRNDI) sponsor the only system-wide competition – the PRNDI Awards – which focuses exclusively on newsroom output.

There is another competition with a wider view: The Third Coast International Audio Festival, {link] conducted each year in Chicago. Third Coast invites entries from folks outside the US, podcasters and audio storytellers, in addition to producers at US noncom stations. The result is an eclectic mix of topics that provide a feast for the ears. 2016 is no exception. 

WINNERS FOR 2016

Anna Sale

Third Coast just announced the finalists for this year’s Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition with a twist.  All of the announced entries are already “winners” but no one knows who won what category.  That will be known at the November 13^th Awards Ceremony in Chicago. The host will be Anna Sale, host and managing editor of WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money.

According to a press release from Third Coast, there were 552 entries from 17 countries, a record high. Third Coast has made audio of all of the finalists/winners available at [link].

Here is the list of the winners:

Samantha Broun

 A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice, and My Mother 

Country: USA
Produced by Samantha Broun and Jay Allison for Transom.org

Dead Mom Talking
Country: Canada

Produced by Rachel Matlow for CBC Radio One

Journey

Country: France
Produced by Jamil for Jungala Radio

Mariya 

Country: USA
Produced by Kaitlin Prest & Mitra Kaboli for The Heart 

Lindsey Smith

Not Safe To Drink

Country: USA
Produced by Lindsey Smith for Michigan Radio

Sentencing Hearing
Country: USA

Produced by Emily Forman for WNOV and WUWM

Dobbeltgænger 
Country: Denmark

Produced by Thomas Arent Anderson for Third Ear X Politiken

Violación de un Sueño: Jornada Nocturna 
Country: USA

Produced by Bernice Yeung, Sasha Khokha & Daffodil Altan for Reveal, KQED, the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, Frontline, and Univision

Hillary Frank

W. Kamau Bell Talks to His Mom About Sex
Country: USA

Produced by Hillary Frank with Abigail Keel for The Longest Shortest Time

Why Do I Stay? 
Country: USA

Produced by Rainy and Courtney Stein for Radio Rookies

The Third Coast International Audio Festival is a non-profit arts organization that was founded by WBEZ, Chicago in 2000.

___________________

MONTH-BY-MONTH LOOK AT WBEZ’s DECLINE IN WEEKLY LISTENERS

Yesterday’s post about the decline of weekly cumulative listeners between March 2016 and September 2016 by several NPR News stations caused a stir in some quarters. 

Ten of the 13 news stations (77%) with the largest number of weekly listeners declined during this period.  WBEZ lost 22% of its weekly listeners. Almost 600,000 weekly listeners were lost by WBEZ and three other stations: KPCC, KCRW and WBUR.

The losses appear to challenge the narrative of NPR News stations getting a bump in listeners during a hot political season.

We contacted Ben Calhoun, Heidi Goldfein and Jake Fenske at WBEZ for comments.  We had not heard from them at the time this story was posted.  If/when we hear from them, we will update this story.

MAJOR DECLINES IN WEEKLY LISTENERS AT NPR NEWS STATIONS

While compiling today’s list of the Top 20 noncom stations ranked by weekly cumulative listeners I saw an unexpected trend: Many of the NPR News stations lost weekly listeners over the six months between March 2016 and September 2016. Nielsen Audio estimated weekly listener data shows 10 of 13 (77%) NPR News stations lost weekly listeners.

Some of the declines were more than “wobbles.” KPCC had an estimated 170,000 (21%) fewer weekly listeners in September compared with March. WBUR lost around 152,000 (27%), WBEZ lost 136,000 (22%) and KCRW lost 131,000 (19%). These four stations combined lost a total of 589,000 weekly listeners.

The losses appear to challenge the theory that NPR News stations tend to gain weekly listeners during political seasons. I will leave it to another time to examine why this may be happening, but this is a trend worth watching.

Not all NPR News stations lost listeners.  WAMU’s estimated weekly listeners grew approximately 100,000 between March 2016 and September 2016. WAMU now has the most estimated weekly cumulative listeners at noncommercial stations measured by Nielsen Audio PPM. KQED and KNOW also added listeners during the same period.

Let’s look stations #1 - #10:

 

NPR News stations dominate the top twenty will 13 of the 20 stations. The list also includes 3 Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations, 2 Classical stations, 2 Jazz stations and 1 Triple A (KCRW was counted twice because of their dual format).

Jazz station WBGO had the biggest gain in weekly listeners, up over 70,000 (27%) when comparing March and September.

Influential CCM station WGTS lost around 114,000 (21%) of its weekly listeners during the same period.

Overall, 15 of the top 20 noncom stations lost estimated weekly listeners; 5 gained listeners.