While the local print and television media continue to struggle with ad revenue, it’s been a different story with radio.

Ad revenue through October of this year showed a 4.4 percent increase over the like period a year earlier, according to Miller Kaplan Arase LLP/TNS-CMR.

The local market outperformed the national market, which is projected to show about a 1 percent increase in advertising revenue, said Mary Beth Garber, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Association.

Los Angeles radio revenue is expected to rise over $1 billion this year, with top categories being automotive, communications, financial services and television.

Media buyers who specialize in radio said the market hasn’t seen the downturn experienced by newspapers largely because it’s a relatively inexpensive medium, which makes it attractive to L.A.’s smaller businesses. In addition, it’s seen as a still effective competitor against the Internet and other alternative media.

Corissa Embro, president of ad-buying company Industry Media Specialists, said that domestic automakers spent much of their money promoting employee discount programs on radio. On the minus side, local stations saw few political ad dollars this year despite the record sums spent on the state’s special election called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Counting DVRs


Digital video recorders are changing more than the way people watch television. They’re now changing the way ratings are tracked, too.

Nielsen Media Research is breaking out television ratings for shows recorded and played back on DVRs, rather than just live television views. The new ratings system started on Dec. 26.

The decision is drawing applause from El Segundo-based DirecTV Group Inc., which offers TiVo recorders, as well as its own branded DVR. “This will give us a lot more insight into the viewing habits of DirecTV customers,” said spokesman Robert Mercer.

Nielsen engineers have been working on the technology, called an active/passive meter, for several years, at the request of clients who want specific information on program playback, said Karen Gyimesi, Nielsen’s vice president of communications.

The new device is an attachment compatible with Nielsen’s Local People Meters and tracks DVR playback through codes embedded in each program. The device is now in 9,000 homes, although only 60 of the homes in the sample have DVRs, Gyimesi said.

It may be some time before the ratings have a big impact, because few television watchers use the recorders. DVR penetration in the United States is relatively low about 7 percent right now although satellite and cable companies are offering the recorders to customers.

Still, the decision to track DVR viewership will likely affect how television networks negotiate the sale of advertising time. No matter the time slot, shows with a high rate of record-and-replay could command top dollar for commercial airtime though the issue of viewers skipping ads is significant.

“It adds a wildcard factor to advertising negotiations,” said Paul Mandabach, a principal at the Winner & Mandabach consultancy. “Right now I don’t know as a buyer if I would purchase ads on the highly-played DVR shows, no matter how many playbacks they get, until I can see research on whether people are fast-forwarding through ads.”

Nielsen expects to expand the number of digital recorders tracked in the ratings sample by 100 homes each week until the percentage of DVRs measured by the company matches that in the general population.

Idolized


Los Angeles public relations firm Ruder Finn has won the contract to represent a new Web site devoted to “American Idol.”

The site, idolgohome.com, is largely a marketing tool to allow advertisers and sponsors to reach a portion of the show’s 30 million viewers, most in the 18 to 34 age range.

“Advertisers won’t have to spend the hefty sums involved in television advertising and can reach the same young audience and demographic,” said Dominic Morea, a Ruder Finn executive.

Idol Go Home gets several thousand visitors a day, though it hasn’t officially launched yet. The site will begin advertising early this month on other Internet sites, mostly using banner ads, Morea said. The official kickoff is set for Jan. 17, the date of the fifth season premiere.

Free to registered users, Idol Go Home players score points based on the accuracy of their predictions, including who makes it to the top three and who gets sent home first.

*Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230, or at

[email protected]

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