Nielsen to Discontinue the Radio Paper Diary in 2025

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | 4:17pm CT

Nielsen

After several decades of diary measurement, Nielsen plans to fully discontinue to the paper diary in favor of mobile diary in 2025. The move follows the company's decision to eliminate diaries in all of its local TV markets in 2017, replacing it with data collected from set-top boxes. Mobile diaries would allow Nielsen to collect listening data from through various online gateways, including mobile phones, tablets and laptops.

The history of the paper radio diary used by both Arbitron and Nielsen dates back to the early 20th century. In the early days of radio broadcasting, there was no reliable way to measure the number of listeners tuning in to a particular station. To address this issue, broadcasters began conducting listener surveys through telephone interviews, mail-in questionnaires and in-person surveys. These surveys helped broadcasters understand their audience and develop programming that appealed to their listeners.

In the 1930s, the first paper radio diaries were introduced as a means of measuring listenership. These paper diaries were small booklets that were mailed to listeners, who were asked to record their radio listening habits over the course of a week. The diaries typically included spaces for listeners to record the time of day, the station they were listening to and the program they were tuned in to.

Over time, the paper radio diary became the standard method for measuring radio listenership. Both Arbitron and Nielsen developed their own versions of the diary, which were mailed out to thousands of households each year. Participants were typically compensated for their participation in the study, which helped to ensure a high level of participation.

In the early 2000s, both companies began to transition away from the paper diary and towards electronic measurement systems. Today, Nielsen Audio continues to provide radio ratings through electronic measurement systems that track listenership through devices such as portable people meters and online surveys.

In September, 2021, Nieslsen began placing approximately 3,000 new Portable People Meter (PPM) Wearables (wristbands, clips and pendants) in a subset of its nearly 60,000 active PPM panelists. The deployment of PPM wearable devices and technologies was part of the company's continued efforts to modernize its panels and improve the panelist experience.

"As we near the completion of our tenth year of surveys collected digitally, we can't imagine Nielsen won't find wider participation which should help with their sampling issues, especially in younger demos," remarked Nielsen competitor Eastlan President/CEO Mike Gould. "Since Eastlan implemented digital diaries back in 2014, we've also seen the digital respondents tend to recall more overall radio usage as compared to other methodologies. So this is truly exciting news for radio, wish the transition could come even more quickly."