That’s the conclusion of the folks at consulting firm Paragon Media, ten years after the NAB commissioned the company to study millennials. In their latest blog post, Paragon says in the ten years that have gone by, what has not changed is radio’s shocking lack of response to the wants and needs of younger listeners.
Here are some of the findings from the 2006 Paragon study:
– Radio is a default medium based heavily on convenience. Should other media appear as convenient as radio, especially in the car, radio listening among these young people would be seriously jeopardized.
– Engage youth with more compelling content to rise above the convenience factor.listening-music-on-phone-600×330.
– Push your radio programming wherever audio can go. Serve it up when, where and how they can listen.
– Radio must aggressively pursue listeners under 25.
– New formats, fresh approaches, mold-breaking approaches required.
– Improved business models needed to integrate new media revenue streams with traditional advertising. Millennials are screaming for radio that is for them, not their parents.
Paragon says that in 2016 millennials have the same needs for new music discovery, yet radio seems to only care about moving the PPM needle with arcane programming tactics. “Millennials can see right through commercial radio’s smoke and mirrors. They’re not fooled, and now they have many choices and don’t hesitate to use them. They know most new music radio stations only play a small number of songs over and over. Radio listening is the lowest among youngest listeners, many of whom have discovered music without radio as part of their mix.”
Picture courtesy Paragon Media website
And we needed a 10 year study to tell us that?