In this article radioinfo tackles the question of how important promotions are to ratings results.
Sydney survey 1 this year saw a remarkable result for 2GB, bringing it to top position in the market, while 2UE, which held a similar promotion, dropped. Why would two commercial talk stations in the lead up a big talk-radio story like the Iraq war, have such contrasting results?
Analysis of the detailed results shows that both stations increased their reach as a result of their promotions, but the difference in the share result can be explained by the difference in the Time Spent Listening (TSL) figures. Share is a factor of both reach (which is also called cume) and TSL.
2GB promotions Manager Jean Jenkins told radioinfo that the station required their
listeners to listen multiple times in the day to find out firstly when to
ring in to register for the car competition, and then to listen to find out
when the names would be called over the radio. On the other hand, 2UE’s promotion mainly drove reach, as the listener could register anytime without even listening to 2UE, then only had to listen for a short period of time at breakfast each morning to find out whose name had
been drawn.
While 2UE’s share went down in Survey 1, what many people seem to have missed
is that the number of 2UE’s listeners actually went up, but because they were tuning
around the dial, (maybe to 2GB’s promotion as well), 2UE lost valuable TSL. 2UE’s come back in Survey 2 is more proof that, after the car promotion’s effect on TSL was taken away, the results are more consistent with other recent surveys.
Of course there may be other factors at play as well, for instance the effect of Stan Zemanek’s first full 2UE survey, but there is still a lot to be learnt from a close look at the role of promotions in surveys.
Commenting on 2GB’s approach, Jean Jenkins said: “This station is into promotions, it’s probably George Buschman’s previous FM station background. We are beginning to establish ‘signature promotions’ for our station in the same way as an FM station like 2DAY FM does with promos like The Fugitive. The car promotion was one of them, and we now have a 1900 number for our prize/competition line, which listeners have no objection to paying to call.”
“Our promos are working well in conjunction with our programming to give us the results,” said Jenkins. “It is impossible to verify exactly if the promotion made the difference in Survey 1, but what else could it have been.”
But if the promotion was a success does that mean that, since it has ended, listeners have drifted back to 2UE? Jenkins is not sure because “you can’t tell if it was the end of the promo or some other factor.”
For more information radioinfo spoke to the source of the ratings results, Nielsen Media Research’s Mark Neely:
radioinfo: Do you think promotions help radio stations to achieve better ratings
results?
Promotions come in different ‘flavours’. There are the ‘in-house’
promotions which help extend TSL amongst existing station listeners and
hence contribute to share. There are also the market level promotions, better
described as Advertising, which primarily drive increased reach through
awareness, but seldom drive increased TSL unless the promotion entices the
new listener to spend extended time listening to their newly discovered
station.
radioinfo: In your experience which is a better type of promotion for a station wanting to achieve a higher rating – one that builds cume (reach) or one the increases TSL?
Promotions that increase TSL tend to drive share better than promotions
that build reach (cume); especially those promotions that extend listening in
the Breakfast period, as listening in this period contributes more to station
share than any other session due to the volume of Breakfast listening.
radioinfo: Does advertising (as distinct from promotions) help stations achieve better survey results?
Advertising of any sort drives awareness of a station. This can only help
build share. However, when advertising is coupled with a good station
promotion the potential to build share should be even greater.
Arbitron’s Australian representative David Rogerson also contributed to the discussion of this topic:
radioinfo: Do you think promotions can have a significant effect on a ratings result? Why/why not?
If by promotions we mean on-air contests, I have seen evidence where promotions can have an impact on listening levels over the period in which the contest has been active.
It really depends on what the objective of the contest is – some contests are aiming to increase a stations’ P1 listening which can help spike TSL, while others can give rise to increasing cume by attracting listener outside the core and loyal P1’s.
One in particular that comes to mind is a Rolling Stones concert give away featured on a rock formatted station as part of the PPM field trials in Philadelphia last year. This contest really played heavy toward the 25-54 male target and the spikes in listening during the contest give away were significant.
In the end the challenge for a radio station is maintaining contests at a level that meet the objectives of increasing TSL or Cume previously mentioned. In today’s business climate of tighter marketing budgets that’s a real financial challenge.
The owner of the Gold Coast’s impending new ‘Hot Tomato’ station, Jaan Torv believes that promotions are part of the overall mix a station will use to grab listeners, but they must be right. “Some work well, but there are others that are very forgettable,” he told radioinfo. “The execution on-air is really important. A promo has to be used to excite listeners about the station, but never forget that consistently strong programming will also stand up on its own.”
One story from America that emerged several times in discussions for this article goes like this: There was a station in America that gave away a million dollars in a promotion and had lots of hype about the biggest competition the city had ever seen. Eventually they announced a winner and put him on air telling him he had won. “Great,” said the winner, “now I can stop listening to you and go back to listening to my favourite station again.” Whether the story is an urban myth or not, it does illustrate one viewpoint on promotions.
Program Director of ABC 666 Canberra, which also had a good survey result recently offered this viewpoint: “We did not do any promotions in the recent survey, but we engendered a lot of loyalty from new and existing listeners during the Canberra bushfires and I think that had an effect in our result. Word of mouth from people who love your station is probably more important that promotions.”
Dave Robertson, the owner of regional stations 1521QN Deniliquin and 4LG Longreach, has a similar view about the power of being involved with the local community: “You can’t use promotions as a crutch in a regional market,” he told radioinfo, “you need good local news, community service and a good reputation in the town.”
From his years of experience in regional markets, Robertson has come to believe that about 20% of the audience like promotions and 80% don’t really care. He says promotions help build loyalty in the 20% who like promotions, but that other listeners are generally unaffected “unless you offer them $50,000, which is unlikely in a regional market.”
From the big city FM point of view, Promotions Director for Nova, Nicole Salisbury had these thoughts:
radioinfo: How important are promotions to Nova?
Promotions are extremely important to Nova. We are continuously using promotions to develop our personality and create a link between us and our listeners.
radioinfo: What is more important – advertising or promotions? Why?
Both are very different and both are important to the radio station. Television advertising is a proven way to get our message to a mass market, however television advertising is extremely expensive, and to get effective cut through on TV requires a substantial investment.
Promotions, however, are effective in creating street talk and providing us with a means to connect with our listeners.
radioinfo: Have they helped to build the Nova brand?
Each promotion run on Nova is effective in communicating different facets of our radio station’s personality to the Sydney audience. We have run the Tossers and Cunning Stunts promotions – which were extremely effective in communicating the irreverent side of our brand. So yes, they do help to build our brand – each promotion differently.
radioinfo: In the first survey this year 2GB had a car giveaway that seemed to build time spent listening. Are TSL promotions more successful than ones that increase
cume?
Being a new station in the Sydney market place means that our focus for every promotion is to build cume. That is the first filter. If we are also able to affectively improve Time Spent Listening, then obviously this is a bonus to us, and means the promotion is twice as successful.
radioinfo: Any other thoughts on the value of promotions to radio stations?
Promotions are an effective way of involving our listeners in the radio station, and provide a brilliant way for people to talk about us… “Did you hear was Nova was doing this morning? They made some poor girl lie in a bath of maggots!!”
It’s that kind of ‘water-cooler talk’ that effectively spreads the message and encourages people to trial our station. It is then the other elements of the radio station (such as great music and more of it, less talk, less ads etc) that keep people listening and coming back to the station.
So there you have it – the 360 degree view on promotions and their effect on ratings, and nobody even mentioned Wet T-Shirts once! It must be a serious subject.
When you next analyse your survey don’t forget to look beyond share and take into account the effect of any significant promotions in the market when analysing reach and TSL.