Nielsen pulls plug on US radio audience measurement service

No reason was given as to why Nielsen had pulled the service, but the decision comes just days after one of its main customers, Clear Channel, announced it had signed a $500m, five-year deal with Arbitron for radio ratings in all markets where it broadcasts.

Nielsen entered the radio ratings market in 2008 with a rival service to Arbitron that used sticker diaries to count listeners in 51 small and medium sized markets. In trials of the methodology in Lexington, Kentucky, Nielsen claimed that the address-based sampling it used delivered “30% more of the potential radio universe than anything else available today”.

Clear Channel, along with Cumulus, were the first to sign up, followed by other subscribers over the coming months, including Sunrise Broadcasting, Black Crow Media, ESPN Radio and Maverick.