RAJAR Publication Code

1. RAJAR Publication Code Effective January 2018 Date

2. CONTENT 1. How to credit the data 2. Competitive stations 3. Geographic units 4. Survey period 5. Not for Publication 6. Additional data from Q2 2007 7. Using common sense 8. … and finally

3. 1. How to credit the data When using RAJAR figures, you must always acknowledge: the source+ the TSA+ the survey period e.g. “RAJAR, station X TSA, 6 months ended December 2017” As survey periods can be 3, 6 or 12 months depending on the size of the station, it is important to specify the duration of the survey for which you are showing RAJAR results. It is tempting to label the survey period as such: “Q4 2017”, however this terminology should only be used to describe a survey period of 3 months, in other words do not use it if the survey period is in fact 6 or 12 months. Please note that you should always use the most recent published results.

4. 2. Competitive stations – the Volumes Table 7 only competitive stations that have a big enough TSA overlap can be compared on the same TSA. these stations are listed exhaustively in yourTable 7on the published volumes. DO NOT COMPARE YOUR RESULTS WITH STATIONS THAT DON’T APPEAR ON YOUR TABLE 7. even if Station X covers most of your TSA, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will feature on your table 7. It will only appear in your table 7 if your TSA accounts for at least 30% of Station X’s TSA. even if Station X features on your table 7, it is possible that your station will NOT appear on Station’s X table 7 (this happens for instance if said stations are measured on different reporting periods). If that is the case, you can show comparative results on your TSA but not on theirs. - with the advent of digital, more and more stations now report nationally and will therefore feature on your table 7 under the heading ‘Total Station X Network UK’. If Station X is not on your table 7, do not compare your results with Station X. You can however compare your results with ‘Total Station X Network UK’. if on your table 7 there is an asterisk next to the name of one of your competitors, it means that the TSA overlap is only partial. Although you are still allowed to publish this data, you are requested to clearly state this fact by adding the mention: “* stations marked with an asterisk do not cover the whole of this Total Survey Area”.

5. 3. Geographic units - the smallest geographic unit for which results can be published is a complete TSA. - this means that you can show results for your station based on your TSA, or any competitor’s TSA (providing your station figures on their table 7), as long as you clearly state which TSA the analysis is based on. - this also means that you cannot publish data on anything smaller than a TSA, such as postcode districts or sample points which are for internal use only. - When publishing, circulating, quoting or otherwise referencing RAJAR results, the results must be taken from the most recent reporting period. If a map of the TSA is published or referenced, the map must be that which was in use during the fieldwork phase for the most recent reporting period. This applies even if a TSA change is in the process of being implemented. The new TSA map cannot be used in conjunction with results based on the old TSA.

6. 4. Survey period Depending on their size, stations report on 3, 6 or 12 months, commonly referred to as Q, H and Y. Unless you explicitly state so, you should not compare results based on different survey periods (e.g. Station A on 6 months and Station B on 3 months). The results featured for other stations on your table 7 are based on your survey period. You shouldn’t show results based on anything else than 3, 6 or 12 months, apart from Table 10’s results (formerly named Table 9). Table 10shows predicted cumulative audiences for your station week by week, up to 13 weeks. These results are obtained using a statistical model and are not real observations. Therefore, when showing these results, please clearly state they are “predicted cumulative audiences”.

7. 5. Not for publication Interim results:there may be occasions where your station will receive interim results. As these interim results will only be based on part of your minimum sample requirement, they are for internal use only, not for publication. Area: as the smallest geographic unit for publication is the TSA, this means that you are not allowed to publish postcode analysis or sample point analysis. Survey period: as the smallest survey period is 3 months, this means you are not allowed to publish figures based on anything else than 3, 6 or 12 months. Analyses over a shorter period (e.g. Monthly results) are for internal use only. Station awareness: the first question on the diary determines the respondent’s awareness of the stations available in their area. Although you can have access to your competitors’ results for this question by requesting a special analysis, this data is for internal use only.

8. 6. Additional data from Q2 2007 With the introduction of the methodology in Q2 2007, stations will have access to more data than before, in particular Out of Area listening and Platform data. Out of Area: Under the new contract, any listening to a station outside of its reported TSA will be credited to the station and will not be recoded to the appropriate “Other” category. It will be possible for a station to analyse on a planning system its out-of-area listening in adjacent TSAs, or across the country. However, out-of-area data is unsolicited and, as such, is not regarded by RAJAR as a definitive measurement of out-of-area performance. For this reason, out-of-area information is intended for internal purposes only and should not be traded upon or otherwise published. - Platform datawill be accessible to all stations through electronic planning systems and will not be published directly by RAJAR except at a generic level. Thus, the decision on whether to publish (or trade) data by platform will rest with individual stations who will be free to publish their own platform figures, although not those of any competitor services.

9. 7. Common sense… These points may seem obvious but are all based on cases brought forward to RAJAR…: - TSA change: when a station changes its TSA, the data from the new quarter is strictly speaking not directly comparable with the previous quarter. If you make a comparison quarter on quarter for this station, the TSA change must be explicitly stated. This also applies when moving from postcode sector based TSAs to postcode districts. - “other” listening: if there is a new station in your TSA that is not reporting on RAJAR yet, do not assume that figures from any of the “other” categories can be attributed to this station (i.e. “other station”, “other local commercial” etc…). Do not publish made-up results for this station based on “other” listening in your area. - when a broadcaster has an AM and FM service with similar station names, often each service reports separately (e.g. ‘Radio Alpha FM’ and ‘Radio Alpha AM’, or ‘Radio Alpha 1’ and ‘Radio Alpha 2’) and also as a group (e.g. ‘Total Radio Alpha AM/FM’ or ‘Total Radio Alpha’). When referring to results for the group, please make sure you clearly indicate so, either by using the name ‘Total Radio Alpha’ if this is the way the group is labelled on the survey, or by clearly stating that ‘Radio Alpha’ is the combination of 2 services, Radio Alpha 1 and 2.

10. - unless explicitly stated, comparisons of competitive stations should be made on the same TSA. Comparing competitive stations on different TSAs can be misleading (e.g. mentioning your results on your TSA and your competitors’ on theirs). - comparisons have to be made on a legitimate RAJAR TSA, not on a town (apart from London) or region. For example, do not say “in the Manchester area”, but for example in the “Capital Manchester TSA” or the “Key 103 TSA”. - comparisons between stations should be made on the most recent results. Don’t compare your new results with your competitor’s old results…(this is particularly important if one of the Stations has left the Survey, no old data can be used) - when drilling the data (on age brackets for instance), check the sample size. The smaller the sample, the less reliable the results. For confidence limits, please check Appendix IV in the Volumes or on the RAJAR website: http://www.rajar.co.uk/content.php?page=about_process_using#1.3 . 7. Common sense…

11. 8. And finally… if in doubt on what you are allowed to publish, don’t hesitate to ask for advice. Contact RAJAR on 020 7395 0630 or RadioCentre on 020 7306 2603. if you think a station has misrepresented your results and is in breach of the RAJAR Publication Code, please send all details to Lyndsay@rajar.co.uk we all make mistakes… this time it may be you, next time it may be your competitor. We expect fair play from everyone on the survey, and if you’ve been asked to rectify a presentation, we trust you will act with as much diligence as you will expect your competitor to do so if they were in the wrong.