Time spent listening (TSL) is one of the measurements surveyed by
Nielsen Audio in determining ratings for radio stations in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is the equivalent of Average
Time Exposed (ATE), Daily or Weekly.
TSL is defined as the amount of time the average listener surveyed spent listening to each radio station at one time, before changing the station or turning it off. Alternately, it is an estimate of how long the average panelist (listener) was exposed to a particular station or stations for a specific time period.
TSL trends are used in conjunction with
AQH share AQH share is a statistic that measures broadcast radio listenership.
Definition
is an abbreviation for ''average quarter-hour persons'', defined by Arbitron (now referred to as Nielsen Audio) as the average number of persons listening to a parti ...
("AQH") to evaluate listenership to a station. In some radio formats, a station with low AQH (number of listeners) but high TSL is considered more attractive to advertisers than a high AQH / low TSL station, because the station's listeners are more likely to stick with the station through commercial breaks and hear the paid advertisements.
Radio broadcasting
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