Isn’t picking up a radio signal a passive thing without any feedback? Or do they just assume the number by some metric unknown to me
In: Technology
Radio stations are similar to TV stations, in that they take a “sample” (a small number of people) of the population in an area, and learn what that group of people are listening to. Using that sample, they can figure out, within a margin of error, what the larger population is listening to.
There’s pretty much one company that does both TV and radio ratings: Nielsen. (Originally, the radio ratings were from a separate company, Arbitron, but Arbitron got bought out by Nielsen.)
Just like with TV ratings, a good portion of the ratings are determined by average people that have been asked to keep a diary of what they listen to. But just like with TV, there’s technology at work as well.
Some people are asked to carry around what’s called a “portable people meter.” This is a device that listens for a code, embedded in the radio signal by the radio station. This code is inaudible to humans, but is picked up by the PPM. (The PPM is only listening for that inaudible code; it is not eavesdropping on conversations or anything like that. It’s somewhat similar to how your phone is listening for the wake word like “Siri” or “Alexa” or “Hey Google.”) The PPM then stores this information and sends it back via cellular networks to Nielsen, and using that, they can tell exactly what radio stations were listened to.
They usually have this thing called a Portable People Meter, which picks up on hidden audio tones channeling the station, and logs each individual new signal. each signal is a new person listening.
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