I have a car dealer client that told me rep iHeart radio and a local TV station both reached out and commented on the recent increase in their schedules with our stations. ("We see you recently doubled your broadcast radio - would you like to talk with us?") And in fact, we recently increased the spend with this client to exactly double what they had been spending. So how did iHeart and a TV station both know this??? Not sure if they had access to dollars spent, units run, point levels or what but they specifically mentioned "double" and that is exactly what occurred. Could they be monitoring our terrestrial airwaves and somehow counting spots? (Our stream has a different mix of commercials than our over the air signal, and in this case this client is not on our stream.) Or could it be as the dealer reports their co-op to the manufacturer that data is getting resold to some kind of reporting service? Very disturbing and if our competitors have access to this data, I'm wondering how I can get it! Thanks!
Andrew, that would be a little unsettling. You might start by asking your car dealer client if he knows how they would have come by that information. Also, maybe contact RSC member Phil Bernstein, who works for iHeart in Portland, Oregon, and ask him to shed some light for you. He's the only iHeart rep I know on this forum, though there might be others. Finally, why not post on RSC's Facebook page to see who there might have an answer for you. Do let us know what you learn.
There is a subscription service that sends a weekly email with links to a dashboard of how many new spots were added to which stations nationally and locally. There are even recordings of the spots.
https://www.mediamonitors.com/radio/
Thank you, Gentlemen! I'll have to check out the Media Monitor service. Much appreciated!
