Nielsen scraps Tasmanian radio survey

The firm had been collected data through a diary system in the state capital Hobart in the nine weeks from September to November and was due to release the city’s first set of ratings in nine years before pulling the plug because of sampling problems.

Peter Cornelius, Nielsen’s head of media for Australia and New Zealand, told The Australian: “We decided to hold back doing a survey release because the sample wasn’t sufficiently representative. We always over-sample, but we can’t control what comes back. that’s the nature of the random sample.”

Cornelius said he hoped that the commercial networks and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation would commission further sampling in the future, but that it would be impractical to put the diaries back into the market before Christmas.

Some clients, however, did not take the news of the cancellation well. Gilbert Sellers, the general manager at 7HO FM, told the paper: “We are devastated to hear the news 24 hours before it was due to hit the market. There were a lot of clients patiently waiting for it.”