Next Monday January 20th marks the start of the 2013 survey year.
Nielsen survey books are going into the field now, and recipients will begin filling them in next week, with the first survey’s results due to be released on Tuesday March 5th.
This year marks a different routine for Survey 1, with the introduction of rolling survey methodology into the first survey of the year. In the past, all was reset at the beginning of the first survey, but from now on Survey 1 will be rolled together with the last survey of the previous year.
That means this official metro survey period covers October 28 to December 1, 2012 and also January 20 to February 23.
Survey 2 will be the first survey of the year that measures only 2013, counting its data between January 20 to March 30.
With a week to go, stations in the five surveyed capital cities are gearing up with new promotions and refreshed shows. A range of new presenters across the country have been engaged, poached and headhunted over the holiday season, which you would have read about here on radioinfo over the past two months. Most of them begin today.
Stations have also begun advertising campaigns in readiness for the beginning of the survey, with Fairfax Radio advertising heavily on the Foxtel news channels in recent weeks. Today, Fairfax Radio leveraged the company’s newspapers to advertise its talk network stations in a second phase of the campaign. The network has a range of new presenters on its two main stations, including Tom Elliott on 3AW and Dicko & Sarah Morice on 2UE.
ARN will use its new female Mix FM breakfast teams in Sydney (Sami Lukis and Yumi Stynes) and Melbourne (Chrissie and Jane) as a point of difference in its promotions, and the Today network has already secured prominent outdoor billboard locations for its breakfast shows.
DMG’s Melbourne Nova station has begun its year at the Tennis, and is leveraging the summer sporting hype in that city to reintroduce its team to the audience for 2013.
Nationally, Nova’s drive show are creating an Inflation Nation beginning today. Meshel, Tim & Marty have teamed up with Hungry Jacks to hold the biggest human beach ball bingo competition on Friday 25 January as 250 participants compete Australia wide to win a trip for two to Hawaii. Meshel, Tim & Marty will draw bingo balls throughout the show until only one person remains. The competition runs alongside Hungry Jacks Made for Summer campaign.
The Gold Coast will also begin its survey next week, with other regional areas starting later, such as Newcastle on 27 January and Canberra in February. Steve G is one of the new voices to be heard on KOFM this year in Newcastle, replacing the Steve & Kim breakfast show, which was on air for 11 years.
A range of regional surveys, not publicly announced yet, will also take place this year.
In regional promotions, Southern Cross Austereo will again leverage its tv network to assist its regional radio stations when regional surveys begin. The network has also introduced a range of cross platform shows, which combine talents and brands across radio and tv. One such notable show this year will be The Range, a country music interview show on Channel 11, hosted by none other than SCA Head Guy Dobson.
Dobson told radioinfo he began hosting the show “to find out more about the inner workings of TV… I thought it would be a good idea to immerse myself in the production process.” The program has been running for a year.
Click here for the full list of survey dates, or check our radioinfo calendar (Powered by LookForward), which lists survey dates as well as many other important events for 2013.