Arbitron began measuring Satellite Radio this fall and according to Katy Bachman at Mediaweek: “All satellite radio channels will be eligible, but only those channels that garner enough audience to meet minimum reporting standards, will be included.” But, SIRIUS recently told me that it doesn’t subscribe to Arbitron, though it might in the future.
I posed several questions to SIRIUS about measuring Stern’s impact on the service and the answers I received were rather brief and non-enlightening.
In general, the company told me, “SIRIUS measures listenership and customer satisfaction by using detailed, customized customer surveys, administered regularly.”
When I inquired how it intended to report Howard Stern’s impact I was told, “SIRIUS does not reveal any listenership figures for any specific show or channel.”
When I asked if advertisers would be privy to specific audience numbers I was told: “SIRIUS provides its customer research findings to potential advertisers on a case-by-case basis.”
Well, I hope you’ve learned as much as I did from this short Q&A. Granted, SIRIUS doesn’t owe me or anyone else proprietary information about its methods of measurement or the statistics it produces.
But, all the same, I asked these questions because I began to wonder how we would ever know if Howard Stern’s move to SIRIUS was a success or not – and for that matter by what standard would that even be judged.
Some people say Stern will start off with at least one-tenth of his terrestrial audience. Bridge Ratings & Research, a California-based
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