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Advertising-free Radio New Zealand will have more up-to-date radio ratings than commercial radio by adopting two different surveys, and has rubbished the existing system used by commercial broadcasters.
The Radio Broadcasters Association dominated by CanWest RadioWorks and The Radio Network last week renewed its contract with Research International for two five-week ratings surveys each year that form the basis of their ratecard charges for advertising time.
Survey periods that set the radio ratings mean a big boost in promotional giveaways, with radio talkback hosts taking controversial stances to attract listeners.
If the figures go up then that influences how much more radio stations can charge.
But advertising-free Radio New Zealand has dropped its single five-week survey of National Radio and Concert.
It has opted for a 40-week survey with 3600 respondents from Nielsen Media Research that includes details on listenership for commercial stations.
"I think New Zealand is the only country in the world that uses these dipstick or snapshot surveys," said Peter Cavanagh, chief executive of Radio New Zealand.
"As a reliable performance measure it is almost useless."
Under the Nielsen survey, data is collected for four 10-week periods. RNZ will have basic information about the most popular commercial stations and more detail on National Radio and Concert.
RNZ will not release its figures on commercial stations, Cavanagh said.
David Innes, executive director of the Radio Broadcasters Association, said commercial companies had considered changing to a full 40-week survey, but pulled back because it would be to expensive.
While it worked for National Radio and Concert with their national audiences it would have too few respondents in individual markets.
"How many people would they have in Nelson with 12 stations?" said Innes.
He said commercial radio was aware of changes on the radio market research and was investigating options.
