Business

　　Nielsen Media Research will offer radio audience measurement service on the Chinese mainland in response to a rising demand from both radio stations and advertisers for a better understanding of their target audience, the company said yesterday.

　　In February, Nielsen began pilot tracking of radio listening in 32 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing. By the end of this year, the service will be expanded to 35 cities on the mainland, Nielsen said.

　　"China is the world's second largest radio market in terms of the number of radio stations. However, advertising revenue generated from radio is relatively small compared with that in western countries," said Mark Neely, the company's Asia Pacific radio service director.

　　"It is partly because advertisers have a firm belief in television and print media. Another important reason is that advertisers need an independent party to evaluate how the radio performs."

　　China's monitored advertising revenue topped 198.6 billion yuan (US$23.9 billion) last year, with 76 percent coming from television while only 2 percent from over 1,000 radio stations in China, according to the Nielsen Media Research.

　　In comparison, more than 10 percent of advertising revenue in the United States, Australia and New Zealand was generated from radio stations last year, Neely said.

　　The launch of radio audience measurement services was welcomed by a local radio program maker.

　　"Radio industry is rebounding quickly, benefiting from our efforts to improve the quality of our programs and the convenience of listening to the radio," said Yuan Hui, executive director with Shanghai Radio Station's 990 News Frequency. "Through the third party measurement, we can have a bettering understanding of our target listeners and adjust our schedules to meet their demand."

　　Yuan noted that the broadcaster gets rating data from CVSC-TNS Research Co Ltd, whose service covers four cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing.

　　"It is possible that Shanghai Media Group, our parent group, will buy data from Nielsen if they can provide competitive service," Yuan said. "For advertisers, they can have a reliable source to decide where and when to buy radio advertising."