Get Started with Audio US

Telmar’s audio planning tool offers complete analysis for radio and assists the media planner in setting goals for a Terrestrial radio buy, ranking stations, and reach and frequency schedule analysis. The system can be used to estimate audience delivery reach based upon GRP goals, on a market-by-market basis using Nielsen Audio ratings.

Unlike television, radio reach varies greatly by market and target, with station selection (due to format variation) accounting for the greatest differences. In Generic mode, Telmar’s Audio Planner shows you the differences in Reach produced by buying up to 10 stations deep in any market at any GRP level by daypart. The typical question it answers is, “How many GRPs do I need to buy to achieve a 60% reach in the market?”

Telmar Audio lets you test various combinations of Dayparts, GRP/Spot levels, and number of stations deep in a market, or will automatically produce an optimized complete schedule based upon your input parameters. The program will run on PC/Macs/Tablet/Mobile screens. The minimum recommended guideline for Mobile screens is 4.7”. Compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari.

Features:

Web based application
Easy GRP or Spot entry
Plan by Top number of stations or station specific
Plan by Total schedule or by # of weeks
Optimized schedules
Visualize the data with charts
Station Rankers
Export to clean non-formatted report

Documents

The first screen upon logging in, the Documents screen, is where new reports start and all saved work can be located and retrieved. Users no longer will have to worry about where to save the work. It is stored safely in the cloud. A file may be deleted using the negative icon to the left of the project name.

The person icon in the upper right corner allows a user to logout, return to the home screen, change the current password, or open thE documentation page where a glossary, quick guide, and an introductory training video are accessible within the application.

The Filter allows for quick location of any file by keywords, so that the needed file is quick and easy to access, without having to sift through many files.

Markets

You will need to select a Source and Sweep for the specific market to be planned against. Using the drop down selectors, choose a Source, then choose a Report Type, and then a Market Name. As you select these items, the list of markets will filter to only display those markets that fit the selected criteria.

After selecting a reporting source, the next step is selecting the Standard, Ethnic Black, or Ethnic Hispanic markets. As these options are chosen, the list of markets will narrow.

There is a counter to the left of the screen that will alert you to the number of markets currently being displayed.

The available months of data are displayed. Select a month, and then select the market for the report.

Alternatively, there is a Market Name filter allowing one to type in the market name to quickly display the available markets. When typing the first few letters of a market name the list will only display those available markets from that source, report type and survey time period.

Targets

The Target Selection/Target Creation screen allows for quick selection of pre-defined target audiences. Simply select the audiences needed for the schedule using the available check boxes.

The Target Creation screen will allow a user to choose gender and age ranges to create any combination of gender and age. New to Telmar Audio are additional demographics that can be added onto the gender and age ranges to form new targets such as W25-54 with Kids in HH.

Use the pencil icon to rename the target with a custom name. Click on the Create button when ready.

As targets are created they will live within the application and will be available across all markets.

Station Selection/Rankers

The Station Selection/Rankers screen allows for sorting the stations list by any of the available data items. Simply click on the data item and it will sort from highest to lowest.

Using the Daypart selector, easily toggle between dayparts. The ranking screen will update accordingly.

Use the Target selector to toggle between multiple demos and the Ranker report will update accordingly.

The Top n Stations drop-down selector will allow one to select the top # of stations desired

Additionally, users may filter by Band, Formats, or Networks.

The ranker screen can be exported into a spreadsheet format using the ellipsis icon.

Setting Preferences

To select a different set of default dayparts click the menu icon button on the upper right corner, and a menu will appear. Click on Preferred Dayparts to open the Daypart selection window. By default five common dayparts are already pre-selected for all reports. Use the check boxes to add or remove any dayparts. Additionally there is a quick filter at the top of the screen. simply type in the first few letters of the daypart needed and it will quickly appear for selection. Click Ok To apply the changes.

You may choose to include or exclude certain stations from your schedule. By default, all stations available in a market will be shown. This makes it easy to only select FM stations for example. Additionally, there is a quick filter at the top of the screen. simply type in the first few letters or numbers of the station needed and it will quickly appear for selection. Click Ok to apply the changes.

Planning/Schedule Editing

There are 5 modes of planning currently available in Telmar Audio.

Generic planning by Total schedule
Generic planning across a number of weeks
Station planning by Total schedule
Station planning across a number of weeks
Optimized schedule builder

The Planning screen is where all of the input and resulting calculations for the schedule will appear. There are 3 sections on this screen that can collapse to hide or show each section as needed.

Daypart and Station Planning - Input GRP/Spots
Station Results - Total of GRP/Spots
Station Results Graph - View the results visually

Additionally there is a dashboard reporting screen front and center at the top of the screen for quickly seeing the schedule results..

Generic Audio Planning

There are two ways of working in Generic mode. Plan by Total schedule, or Plan by a specific # of weeks.

Generic planning by Total campaign

Using this option lets the ranker pick the top N number of stations, across a set # of weeks. For example;

If you input 100 GRPs or Spots for the top 4 stations across 4 weeks it will add 25 GRPs or Spots on each station.

Generic planning by number of weeks

Using this option lets the user set a GRP level and then multiply that GRP for a specific number of weeks. For example: If you input 100 GRPs for the top 4 stations across 4 weeks, It would add 25 GRPs to each station and then multiply that by 4 so that you end up with 400 GRPs

Station Specific Audio Planning

This mode of planning allows the user to specifically select the exact stations needed and independently plan GRPs or Spots across each individual station, and daypart.

Station specific planning by Total Campaign

Using this option lets the user drop down and select the specific station and input on that station only. This will spread out the input value across the selected number of weeks selected.

Station specific by a number of weeks

Using this option also lets the user drop down the Stations selector and choose the specific station, input on that station only, and multiply that input amount by the number of weeks selected.

Charts/Visualization

There are several charts that help to quickly visualize the results of a schedule. The Station Results Graph, Frequency Distribution, and Target Composition.

The Station Results Graph is a vertical bar chart that reflects the details for each station, and target selected within the schedule across several metrics.

The Frequency Distribution Graph/Table will display the selected schedules frequency of hearing the ad.

The Target Composition Pie chart will display the composition % of the selected target in the market.

Optimized Audio Planning

Telmar Audio includes a real -time schedule builder. The optimum schedule starts with a user entered incremental schedule. This can be as small as 1 spot in a single daypart, or any combination of dayparts and spot levels. The system will buy your schedule until a user entered station criteria is achieved. Stations continue to be purchased based on a user defined ranking criteria, (highest to lowest) until a user entered market goal is reached.

Example scenario:

The goal is to achieve a 60% reach in the market using drive time and weekend. Buy stations in the order of their ability to build reach in these dayparts, and buy at least a 3 frequency on each station until the market goal is reached.

The Optimizer Input screen

To start an Optimizer schedule, first click on the button for it.

The Optimizer input screen is divided into 2 tabs. The Criteria and Dayparts & Costs.

On the Criteria tab, there are several drop down selectors. These allow for selection of the Primary Target to optimize against, Rank Stations By, the station buying goal, market goal and number of weeks for the schedule.

For example the stations are by default ranked in order of highest to lowest on the Average Quarter hour rating. So the system will pick the best stations based on that data point to select the stations needed to reach the goal. Other criteria for Rank Stations By include; Cume, Reach, Frequency, Impressions. CPM Reach, and CPM Impressions

The Criteria for Station Buying Goal are: Buy Schedule N Times, Turnover, Minimum Frequency, Minimum % of Cume, Turnover, and Buy Schedule N Times.

The Criteria options for Market Goal include: Reach, Frequency, GRPs, Budget, and Top N Stations.
Multiple market goals may be entered using AND/OR logic. (i.e. 60% Reach, and a 3 Frequency, OR $10,000 budget.

On the Dayparts & Costs tab, for each of the dayparts needed for the optimum schedule, place a 1 (single spot) into the Spots field. This tells the program to use that daypart and buy in multiples of 1 spot.

Costs may be entered as Cost per Spot (CPS), or Cost per Point (CPP$). Select the schedule to copy the results to or choose to output into a new schedule. Click Run to start the optimized schedule.

Exporting a plan

A user can export the resulting schedule into a spreadsheet format by clicking on the 3 ellipses button.

The only option is Export Table as CSV. The resulting output is clean and non-formatted so that the users can alter it however is needed.

Icons used on the Planning screen:

File Menu

When in the Planning screen in the upper right corner is a Menu button.

Clicking on this button will display several menu sub-options.

File/New: This will prompt you to save your current work if you have not already, and start a new session and bring you back to the market selection screen.

File/Save: will save the current work.

File/Save As: This option will display a dialog where you may give the file a new different unique Title. A dialog box will appear. The Title must be filled out but there is also optional fields to help document the Client, Author, Brand, Project #, Version, and any Notes.

Click OK to continue.

Select Menu

Select/Preferred Dayparts: Click the menu button on the upper right corner, and a menu will appear. Click on Select/Preferred Dayparts to open the daypart selection window.

Select/Preferred Stations: Click the menu button on the upper right corner, and a menu will appear. Click on Select/Stations to open the stations selection window.

Select/Campaign Effective Reach Level: Click the menu button on the upper right corner, and a menu will appear. Click on Select/Campaign Effective Reach Level to open the effective reach options.

View Menu

View/Frequency Distribution

This will display a dialog window that will display the Frequency Distribution graph on screen. The user can alter between the graph and the frequency table. Click the OK button to close the dialog.

	The Pencil icon is used to rename a schedule or saved file.
	The Delete button will permanently remove a schedule from the saved document within the Planning input screen.
	The Add button will create a new blank schedule.
	The Blue Optimize button will pop up a dialog so that you may select which daypart to include and the criteria needed to optimize against.
	The Black Re-Optimize button will appear next to a previously ran optimization schedule so that you may edit and revise the optimization criteria.
	The Station selection button will appear when in Station Specific planning so as to easy add or remove stations