Over the weekend, we launched a new feature to SRDS.com that helps you organize your radio station search results by metro and non-metro markets. 

The new “Group by Market” option is available in any search that includes radio stations (look under the sorting options).

After conducting your search (make sure you’ve filtered to radio stations-only), simply click the “Group by Market” check box and your results will organize into two sections:

1. Metro Markets – Displays an alphabetical list of all the Arbitron-defined MSA’s  in your results.
2. Non-Metro Markets – Displays an alphabetical list of states, broken down by an alphabetical list of non-metro market cities in your results.

Don’t forget you can also apply useful search filters to help you identify stations by format and primary demo!

Unfamiliar with the markets you're planning? The Market Lookup tool can help.

Simply Click the "Find Market" link at the top of the Markets area in the Radio database. Enter a ZIP Code, city and state, county and state or just the state to see what markets match your search criteria, plus see all the SRDS listings in these markets.

When you need to know the types of ads a website accepts, look no further than SRDS.com.  We’ve just started adding ad sizes and formats to our digital listings so you’ll have a more complete view of the countless online advertising opportunities on the Web.

Organized by IAB standard or Non-IAB standard, this section reports the ad sizes (ex: skyscraper) and formats (ex: Flash) that were served on that website within the most recent three months. We’ve added this information to nearly 15,000 digital media listings so far and are reporting on 73 different ad sizes and 3 formats.

We will also provide users with a link to current IAB standards and guidelines. We hope that this data and the IAB references provide you with all the information you need on creative standards/practices and simplify the process of buying, planning and creating digital ads.

From SRDS.com search results, click through to the listing detail and then hit the Ad Sizes & Opportunities tab to see what this looks like:

If you don’t currently have access to the digital database and need to incorporate Web sites into your plans, let us know. We have detailed advertising information on almost 23,000 national consumer, b-to-b and local websites, as well as audience metrics, site images and now ad sizes and formats.

If you have other ideas for enhancements to SRDS.com, drop us a note. User requests and feedback are critical as we decide to make upgrades and changes to the site.  

The latest Spot Radio and TV Cost-Per-Point estimates are now available in SRDS.

As broadcast buyers well know, one of the key ways to measure cost-efficiencies is by CPP or cost-per-point (e.g., per Gross Rating Point). Cost per point is the cost, per 1 percent of a specified audience, of buying ad space in a given media vehicle. Buyers rely on SQAD to tell them what a CPP should be in an upcoming quarter, by market, by daypart.

As a reminder radio and tv/cable subscribers can find the SQAD information in SRDS as follows:

SQAD Spot Radio CPP Estimates by MSA

Go to the Radio Media database and you will see a link to the MSA PDFs on the Radio welcome page:

TV Cost-Per-Point Levels by DMA

Go to the TV & Cable Media database and you will see a link to the DMA profile PDFs on the TV & Cable welcome page:

Need help calculating CPPs now? Use our simple calculator.

Spoiler alert: SRDS will soon be releasing an iOS app for easily determining CPP and other calculations on the fly!

A new (but familiar) Market Lookup feature is now available within SRDS. We've brought back (and enhanced) the ability to identify a market area based on a ZIP code, city, county or state.

If you plan local media, you know it can sometimes be difficult to know the area in which you're planning. With over 43,000 ZIP codes, 3,000 counties, 200 DMAs and 300 MSAs, how in the world (okay, country) do you keep up?

The Market Lookup tool is available to local media subscribers whenever they search locally in SRDS, and appears in any search that includes local results, including newspaper, radio, TV and cable, out-of-home and local digital media.

Using Market Lookup only takes three easy steps:

1. Click the "Find DMA" link at the top of the Markets area. In the Radio database, this link says “Find Market."
    
2. Enter search criteria to identify the market. Each of the searches below will return the DMA in which your data resides. For radio, the MSA and/or non-metro market will be identified.

• ZIP Code: Enter 5 digits
• City and State: Both are required
• County and State: Both are required
• State: a state search will identify all DMAs or MSAs and non-metro markets with coverage in that state.

3. Review your results. See what markets match your search criteria, plus see all the SRDS listings in these markets. Close or click off the search box to see these listings displayed on your main results page. When you do a keyword search, your market lookup will also display the listings in that market that match your keyword.

So go ahead, identify the newspaper market for Clayton, Georgia, find the MSA where ZIP Code 71417 resides, and view all the "Sports" listings in the state of Texas to your heart's desire!

This past weekend we released a suite of enhancements to the way your Open Search results are organized and displayed.

Based directly on feedback from users like you, (thanks, and keep the input coming!), the new Open Search workflow streamlines the experience of searching across multiple media types, while still giving you the ability to apply powerful, media-specific filters to optimize your results.

Filter options are now available for all media types:

• Business Publications: classification, domestic or international titles, listings with classified information and audited titles.
• Consumer Magazines: classification and audited titles.
• Digital Media: classification, DMA, sites with website metrics and audience demographics.
• Direct Marketing: classification, domestic, international or Canadian lists and list type and selects, including e-mail list/e-mail selects, enhanced lists, high ticket mail order buyers and new listings.
• Newspapers: national and DMA markets, listings with classified information and newspaper type, including dailies, communities, alternatives and shoppers.
• Out-of-Home: national and DMA markets and media types.
• Radio: metro and non-metro markets, format and primary demographic.
• TV & Cable: media types, including TV stations, cable systems and TV/Cable networks, national and DMA markets and commercial TV stations, non-commercial TV stations and interconnects.

Use the Media Companies tab to identify networks, representatives, groups, owners, brokers and managers, organized by media type.

Search as easy as 1-2-3

The Open Search changes are easy to master and will kick your SRDS searching game up a notch:

1. Enter keywords, phrases, or titles
2. Search across all media types (by default) or make more advanced selections from the “Options” drop down menu. Search specific media types or click the “Title Only” box if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
3. View and/or narrow your results. Available media are categorized by media type on the left side of the screen (The numbers in parentheses show the number of matching results). Click a media type to display media-specific filters and narrow your results.
   
   Just click “Back to Original Results” to return to the cross-media big picture

For the super searcher

Did you know you can kick it up yet another notch? Check out our Search Tips to see how you can perform advanced searches such as searching for a phrase, excluding certain words from your search and using the AND and OR operators to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Don’t even think about rekeying that data. Now you can view multimedia options and take them with you, with SRDS’ new reports-building functionality. The new SRDS Reports feature lets you select titles, view them side-by-side, organize, sort, print and output key planning data.

Select

Whether you’re doing a quick title search or broader research, you can add titles to your consideration set from the detailed listing or right from the results page, saving precious time. An at-a-glance view of all your tagged titles is always available (think shopping cart). 

Sort

Once you’re tagged up, go to your Reports area to evaluate all the media selections you’ve made. Compare your titles in a Grid view—you won’t be disappointed!

Print

Just want a handy print out of your consideration set? No problem.

Download Contact Information

Download a Contact Report for any and all titles you’ve selected across the SRDS database. Just one keystroke generates a file you can sort, filter, append and customize to your liking in spreadsheet programs such as Excel.

Contact information includes (where available):

• Media title and type
• Owner name
• Classification or market area
• Address, phone, fax and email
• Media kit URL and corporate URL

Download Detailed Data

More data, you say? In addition to contact information, Detailed Reports provide you with, well, more details. Detailed Reports are available when viewing a single media type, allowing you to take a deep dive into the planning data for that specific media type.

Fields included in a Detailed Report depend on the media type selected:

• Print: rates, circulation, frequency, rate base and bleed information
• Broadcast: network affiliations and key personnel and traffic information
• Digital: Unique Visitors from Compete.com
• Direct Marketing: list universes and base rates

Reports Tip: Don't forget  the icing on the cake. You can always copy and paste media images and logos in your reports to provide extra insight and interest.

We'll show you how easy it all is in less than 5 minutes with this video, or you can download a sample Contact Report or Detailed Report.

Better yet, sign in to SRDS now and start tagging media for yourself!

You’ve seen the new design of the SRDS multimedia platform.  Integrated databases, flexible searching, helpful results chock full of covers, logos and topline rates and consideration data. Hooray, outstanding, fantastic, you say, along with…

• “What are the unique visitor numbers for this site?”
• “What is the close date for the May issue for this pub?”
• “Who can I call at this hour for a deadline extension for the (ahem) May issue? "

We know you probably have at least twenty more such questions in your head and about as many hours or less to turn around a client presentation or plan. That’s why it’s important you know exactly where to access critical planning and buying information.

There’s a tab for that.

Click on a title in your search results and you’ll see an entire page devoted to that media property, with an organized view of all the different information segments that comprise an SRDS listing, nice and tidy, in a tabbed format. The tab name and information will vary by media type, but generally speaking you’ll find tabs covering:

General Information
Read a description of the media property including the provider’s own positioning statement where available. Come here for quick access to their website and media kit. There’s also a link to the print or digital counterpart listing in SRDS.

Contact Info
Here is where you’ll find all the names, numbers and addresses you need to make connections and move things along. Come here for a list of branch offices and reps.

Properties Managed/Owned 
See a list of titles that comprise a group or network as well as properties that are owned, operated or affiliated.

Circulation/Audience Data/Markets Served
Tap into critical evaluation numbers, with many that include links to industry measurement companies and audit bureaus such as ABC, BPA, CVC and Compete. Must. Have Info.

Rates and Advertising Ops
It’s the “R” in SRDS. View this tab to access important rate information as well as policies and overall media/advertising opportunities.

Insertion/Purchasing Info
What’s the best food day? What’s their standard page dimension?  Come here to access issue and closing dates, general specifications, traffic specs, requirements and more.

Brand Portfolio
What’s the story behind this brand? This tab (highlighted in green) contains sponsored content provided by the media property. Come here to get the complete low-down, with links to tons of information including video media kits, tablet edition information, research, instant editions, audience/distribution profile data, featured marketing opportunities and more, all in one place.

Not the tabbed type?

Want to see (or print) all of this information on one happy page? Click the “print” button to see the entire listing on one screen.

We want to know

What piece of SRDS data do you rely upon most? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @srds!