MRC Data offers Market Level Streaming Data for the US and Canada. How do you, as a client, best use that data to help your business? If you’re programming music for a multi-cluster radio company then you may have questions like the following:

I’m responsible for selecting, managing and scheduling our Hot AC stations and I’d like to:
- Make sure that we are selecting the titles from each artist with the highest appeal for each market - I want to keep and grow our market share
- Expose the best breaking titles and artists to grow our audience in each region
- Prove to the Execs and Programming team we have the most comprehensive research to mirror our listeners needs
- Save money on research! Use streaming data to understand what’s new and hitting in my markets
Using BDSradio’s newest data set, you can answer these questions.
The ability to compare title appeal, as characterized by on-demand consumption ranking in United States and Canadian Markets, gives programmers a cost-efficient means of supplementing and/or initiating research in each market. Tying daily data for airplay, audience impressions and multi-chart ranking along with on-demand streaming makes BDSradio the one stop shop for accurate decision-making metrics..
1. I know my popular artists - one of them is Pink. But am I playing the right song from her catalogue for my audience on my Hot AC station?
a. Go to the Song View and search for the artist and select Songs. This will give you the overall airplay and streaming totals in each market.
b. Select a prime market for your format. In this example it's Vancouver.
c. Sort by the highest to lowest streams in. All I Know So Far is the top streaming title of Pink’s artist’s catalogue. It’s her latest hit, and Walk Me Home from 2019 is the song from two years ago which is second most popular.
All I Know So Far and Walk Me Home should be top programming contenders for Vancouver.
2. Should I program this title in other markets? – What is the local ranking of this title compared to titles on the Adult Top 40/Hot AC Chart?
a. Go to the Format Charts, select Canada Hot AC, click on Vancouver for the local streaming and search for the artist. This will give you the overall airplay and streaming totals for Hot AC titles in Canada and Vancouver.
b. Download the chart to Excel clicking on the arrow above the Artists column.
c. Using the same Chart configuration, change the local streaming data to your other Hot AC markets and download each to a spreadsheet.
d. The result shows a ranking in Ottawa markets - Ottawa Central and Ottawa-Gatineau - which is lower than the National rank (ie. the song is higher in the charts therefore more popular)
Pink’s All I Know So Far should be programmed at a higher rotation in Ottawa than in Vancouver and Winnipeg.
3. Which current songs should I be programming - what does my audience want to hear? And what are they tired of hearing?
a. Using the same spreadsheet look for breaking new titles - we see artists like Taylor Swift and Lil Nas X as well as early fall titles like Jalebi Baby
b. Taylor sees stronger on-demand streaming acceptance in Vancouver and Ottawa Central compared to the full Nation’s Capital (Ottawa) market with Winnipeg matching the national ranking. Lil Nas X has significantly stronger than the national average ranking in the full Ottawa market than in the Western Markets.
c. The local data for Jalebi Baby performs weaker than the national average indicating possible burn.
Therefore for your Hot AC station in Vancouver - make sure that Taylor Swift’s Message in a Bottle is on rotation, your listeners have indicated via streaming that this is a song that they want to hear. Little Nas X’s That’s What I Want is less appealing to those listeners in Vancouver, but do program it in Ottawa. And finally, if you’re still playing Jalebi Baby, it’s time to retire . Listeners are tired of that song and if they hear it again there’s the danger that they switch off!

For further questions regarding Format Comparatives and other use cases for Market Level streaming data in BDSradio, or for a training session: In Canada, please contact Andrew Forsyth
aforsyth@mrcentertainment.com. For United States DMA information please reach out to
music.support@mrcentertainment.com or submit a ticket below.