Os concorrentes da Arbitron na medição de audiências nos EUA

Num país com a dinâmica comercial dos EUA e uma indústria radiofónica poderosa, não poderia haver apenas uma empresa a fazer estudos de mercado em rádio. Seguem-se os dois principais competidores.  Mas o poderio nacional da Arbitron, que de alguma forma comenda a própria indústria a nível nacional, só tem uma explicação: o mercado, sobretudo o publicitário, não gosta do desconforto de ter dois números (ou mais...) que podem não coincidir (e se coincidirem, para que servem?):

- A NCW Research (antiga Willhight Research de Seattle), responsável por um Radio Audience Survey (Query- The question asks what stations has the respondent listened to in the past seven days. We probe for listenership at work and in respondents car. We probe for call letters, frequency (dial position), Band (AM or FM), Format, and Slogans/ Special Programs and Air Talent).

- A AccuRatings, de Chicago (tambem baseada em pesquisas telefónicas) "Esta empresa utiliza una controvertida técnica de entrevistas telefónicas que incluye preguntas sobre preferencias en lugar de preguntas sobre conductas" (Norberg, 1998: 133). "After the demise of the Birch ratings, Strategic Radio Research launched a service designed to fill the void called "AccuRatings".  Like Birch, AccuRatings utilized phone interview methodology, and also provided more detailed demographic information than Arbitron.  Unlike Birch, which queried people's listening habits over the previous day, AccuRatings asked people to name the station they thought of as their "most listened to".  Also unique to AccuRatings was the fact that no trending data was listed in their reports.  Instead, respondents were asked what station they most listened to six months in the past, the resulting figure was listed as the "Recalled Former Share" or RFS.  This gave an idea of a station's rise or decline based upon listener's perceptions rather than simple comparisons to past raw data."
 

E já que se fala na Birch Ratings, a principal competidora da Arbitron durante a década de 80 e inícios de 90: "While Arbitron relies on people to recall what they have listened over a seven-day period in a written diary, Birch utilized phone interviews to gather its data.  Respondents were asked to recall their radio listening over the prior twenty-four hours.  Because the phone methodology often yielded higher listening estimates for stations that targeted younger listeners, Birch became the favored ratings service in the eyes of top 40 and rock stations.  Birch also utilized its phone interviews to gather detailed qualitative information through a service it called Scarborough.  This allowed stations to obtain a clearer picture of the audience that was listening.  After Birch's demise, the Scarborough division was purchased by Arbitron, which still produces annual qualitative reports under that name".

Existem muitas outras empresas a fazer pesquisa de audiências, mas sem apresentarem um produto estruturado e regular (apenas o fazem a pedido de qualquer cliente), como a Mark Kassof & Co ou a Edison Media Research.