Audience Measurement
Arbitron / Nielsen Audio
The legacy and current primary authoritative bodies for radio audience measurement in the United States.
What is Arbitron / Nielsen Audio?
Arbitron, founded in 1949, was the dominant US radio ratings service until Nielsen acquired the company in 2013 and rebranded it as Nielsen Audio. The transition united TV and radio measurement under a single methodology provider and accelerated the shift from handwritten paper diaries to electronic Portable People Meter (PPM) panels in major metros.
Nielsen Audio's ratings are the currency of US radio buying and selling. Every rate card, every agency plan, every upfront negotiation, and every performance evaluation at a US station references Nielsen Audio AQH, Cume, and Rating data. Outside the US, equivalent bodies include Kantar, Ipsos, and regional measurement unions.
Why it matters
Nielsen's transition from handwritten paper diaries to electronic metering revolutionized the accuracy of AQH and Cume data.
Related terms
- AQH Rating— AQH Persons expressed as a mathematical percentage of the total measured demographic population in a specific geographic market.
- AQH (Average Quarter-Hour Persons)— The average number of individuals tuning into a station for at least five consecutive minutes within a specific 15-minute interval.
- Audience Composition— The demographic, psychographic, or socioeconomic breakdown of a station's listener base, usually expressed in percentages.
- Audience Turnover— The calculated ratio of a station's cumulative audience (Cume) compared to its Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) audience.