One More Headache For PPM Markets

I just spent a week in NYC and was taken back by the number of people walking around with wireless Apple earbuds. You know, those little white ones that sort of look like earrings except not quite attached to the correct place on the ear.  There were a lot of them. Definitely more than I usually see in Toronto.

 

It’s funny though, I noticed that but didn’t really think much more about it as it relates to radio.  It’s so easy to miss the obvious. Then, today, I saw this article about Samsung turning on their radio chip in their new phones. Wow, BONUS! Finally, we catch a break. 

 

Well, not quite. 

 

Along with those new phones comes a big problem if you’re a station in a PPM market that has listeners with a decent amount of disposable cash. I say that because those earbuds are expensive. Samsung is making it cheaper to listen on a phone because you don’t need to use your data. But, like Apple, they’re upping the forced ante to listen with wireless earbuds. The new phones don’t have an earphone jack. With that in mind, you’d assume cheaper Bluetooth alternatives would be on the horizon next. 

 

Unfortunately, more listening on all those wireless buds is going to cause a proportionate amount of listener level drops because PPM can’t track this type of listening.  Take a look…

 

And the game just keeps getting harder to play….