Audience research at NAB Radio Show

Two sessions analyzing audience research at the NAB conference revealed some listening trends that will be of interest to Program Directors.

The Arbitron trial of electronic people meters (PPM) being conducted in Philadelphia was covered extensively at this year’s NAB Radio conference.

One fact to emerge from the Arbitron briefing was:

· The diary system and the portable electronic people meter system yield very similar results in overall 10+ weekly listening results

But there is much more info available to a PD behind the numbers if they drill deeper, according to Arbitron:

· PPM results show that listeners hear 5.7 stations on average, not the 2.9 stations that it was always thought they listened to. This can be explained by the fact that PPMs track listening in smaller chunks than 15 minutes, revealing channel switching more accurately in each quarter hour.

· Half of listener ‘tune-ins’ are not captured by the diary method.

· Therefore the average Time Spent Listeing is much lower than reported in diaries. It is 0.37 minutes for PPMs, compared with 1 hr 27 minutes for diaries.

· In-car listening has increased to 34% of all radio listening — the biggest improvement in share ever seen. 96% of Americans who drove or rode in a car in the last month listened to the radio.

· But the bad news is that, of younger people aged 12-24, only half chose radio as the most essential device in the car, thanks to the use of CDs and mobile phones.

When people fill in a diary they “round out” their listening to quarter hours, but, because the PPM captures actual listening, the results are different but much more representative of how people actually listen.

From the PPM studies, the Arbitron presenters revealed what works for increasing listeners and what doesn’t.

WHAT WORKS:

· Ticket giveaways – the data showed that ticket giveaways work and that giveaways that are most closely targeted to the format work best. A station which played The Rolling Stones got more listeners when it gave away Stones tickets than when it gave away tickets to The Who (which it didn’t play).

· Specials and special guests – which are well promoted succeed in having listeners ‘make an appointment’ to rejoin the station for the special.

· News Events – The US sniper attack, the New York blackout, and other examples showed a huge listener turn-on as the story was breaking and progressing.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK:

· Re-runs – when people are on holidays don’t rerun the ‘best of’ their program because the audience does not listen in high numbers.

· Charity appeals – while appeals might deliver other ‘good will’ benefits, the PPM data shows that they do not deliver audiences, in fact they turn listeners off.

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The Arbitron presenters said “advertisers are demanding more accountability from all media and this kind of data can help radio justify its rates and sell more advertisements.

“The 10 year trend for radio listening is downward, but with this info you can understand your listeners better and give them what they want more effectively.”

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In another session about Talk Radio formats, which used research commissioned research by ABC and ‘Radio Ink,’ some interesting facts emerged about Talk Radio:

· You get “three times the value” from the active listening of talk radio audiences than you do from music audiences in terms of ratings success.

· Listeners actively switch channels during ads.

· Survey results linked with perceptual studies reveal that “people don’t always listen to people they like,” some listeners hate the broadcasters, but still listen.

· Listeners now have access to the same source material and prep sites as radio presenters do (via cable tv and the internet), so they want more from radio than just a rehash of the facts.

Talk radio listeners vote in larger numbers than the average American population [where voting is not compulsory].