Drive-Bys Distort Rush’s Ratings

RUSH: This story has hit the Drive-Bys in their media coverage. Perhaps you’ve seen this. If you haven’t, I’ll inform you briefly and then give the appropriate commentary. There’s an outfit out there that researches radio ratings, and it’s called Coleman Insights … Jon Coleman’s the guy. I don’t know him, I’ve never met him, but radio ratings are undergoing a little bit of a revolution. They’ve always been done by those of you who have participated in them, with diaries. You have a diary, you fill out what you listen to, you send it back, and they calculate it all. They’re rolling out something that will make it more equivalent to television numbers. You know, Nielsen has a box on certain number of Americans’ televisions, and that’s where TV ratings come from. Now, there’s also this thing called a Portable People Meter, and they find people… Right now they’re rolling out in New York, Houston, and Philadelphia. People wear the Portable People Meter, and it is programmed to know exactly what they’re listening to. They can’t fudge it.

This data started in New York in the fall and in Philadelphia and Houston in the fall. This guy Coleman has been doing a little research on my numbers in New York, Philadelphia, and Houston on the Portable People Meter. And he issued his findings of what he called a webinar, a seminar on the web on his website to explain the findings, and the Drive-Bys have focused on one thing. Actually, it’s kind of stunning, but the Drive-Bys have focused on one thing. There is something that they don’t understand. The audience is like one-tenth of one percent higher during commercial breaks than it is during the content portion of the program — which, for our sponsors and advertisers is just huge news. I mean, this is raise-the-rates time. We already charge confiscatory rates and they’re going up because of this. But what they are saying, the way the Drive-Bys are reporting this is funny as hell. They are saying, ‘Limbaugh’s ratings are higher when he is not speaking.’ Now, the research attributes it to the fact that people are tuning in during commercial breaks because they don’t want to miss the beginning of a segment.

They don’t want to miss the beginning of each hour. The Drive-Bys have taken this — the New York Times and New York Daily News, a couple others, have taken this — and said, ‘Why, my gosh! Limbaugh’s numbers during commercials are even higher than his show, and he’s not even speaking.’ Wrongo, my friends. As you well know, I speak during the commercial breaks. What it is a testament to — if the research is accurate — is the deep bond of loyalty that you and I have and that you are profoundly interested in what is happening during commercial breaks on this program, because they’re part of the program. Now, I’m not going into great detail about this because to do so would give away secrets that no other host has figured out here. But it’s just funny. If you’ve seen this reported, the Drive-Bys are taking the occasion to say the ratings to this show are higher when I’m not speaking. That is their take-away on this. But they’ve totally missed the importance of what it all means — 100% totally missed it — which is good because the more under the radar you can keep the business model, the better off you are. It’s like a marketing plan. They don’t come up with a marketing plan and tell everybody what it is because that prepares them for it. You just execute the plan, which is what we do here on a daily basis.