Setting The Record Straight On Radio Listening

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(By Bob McCurdy) Lately there’s been a lot written about “fake news” on the Internet, with Facebook mounting an aggressive effort to address it. Similarly, there’s a lot of fake news and erroneous perceptions surrounding AM/FM that we must also address. We need to look no further than the Q3 2016 Cumulus/Westwood One/Edison Share of Ear study to confirm some of these misperceptions. The study found that advertisers believed that Spotify and Pandora’s share of audio listening was close to matching AM/FM’s. Obviously not true and perceptions eventually lead to revenue.

Setting the record straight is something that each us needs to do with all of our clients and mastery of the following metrics can be helpful when highlighting radio’s relevance with current and prospective clients. In 2017, we need to tell our story more effectively than ever to compete against the ever-expanding menu of media options available to advertisers. These stats can help us reframe the AM/FM narrative.

I extracted the following from our “Why Radio” deck. Note that the impact of these figures can be enhanced by including localized, market-specific data. We’ve also rounded some of the figures to facilitate immediate recollection. The actual figures are in parenthesis.

280 million: The number of 6+ listeners who tune into radio each month according to Nielsen’s Q4 2015 Total Audience Report (281,259,000).

97%: The percentage of A18+ who tune into radio each month according to Nielsen’s Q1 2016 Total Audience Report.

65%-70%: The percentage of A18+ who tune into radio daily. This is a critical stat for any advertiser promoting any time-sensitive, call-to-action event, such as a weekend sale, etc. (Nielsen Tapscan data).

2: The number of hours 18+ adults spend with radio daily according to Nielsen’s Q2 Total Audience Report (1:52).

65%: AM/FM programming’s share of all A18+ audio listening according to USA TouchPoints 2016.1 data (63%).

55%:  AM/FM programming’s share of total A18-34 audio listening according to USA TouchPoints 2016.1 data (54%).

45%: The percentage of the Pandora, Slacker, Spotify, iHeart, and Apple Music listeners’ audio entertainment that AM/FM programming comprises according to USA TouchPoints 2016.1 data (46%).

20%-10%: Twenty is the personal music collection’s share of audio listening in 2012. Ten is the personal music collection’s share of audio listening in 2016 according to USA TouchPoints 2016.1 data. As I’ve long stated, it’s the personal music collection (CDs iPods, MP3s) that would be negatively impacted most by digital audio’s growth (22% and 11%).

60%-60%: Sixty is AM/FM’s share of audio in 2012 and 2016 according to USA TouchPoints 2016.1 data.

$8: The average return-on-ad-spend that Nielsen found radio generated for 15 advertisers. Radio generated $8 in sales for every dollar invested in the medium.

75%: Per Nielsen, stores’ websites experiences a 75% lift in visitation when consumers recall three or more radio ads.

11: The average number of hours viewed each day by TV’s heaviest viewers (10.8). Extracted from Nielsen’s Q1 2015 Total Audience Report.

15: The average number of minutes viewed each day by TV’s lightest viewers (18). Extracted from Nielsen’s Q1 2015 Total Audience Report.

50: The approximate percentage of any campaign’s gross impressions that will be viewed by TV’s heaviest viewers (50.8). Extracted from Nielsen’s Q1 2015 Total Audience Report.

1: The approximate percentage of any campaign’s gross impressions that will be viewed by TV’s lightest viewers (1.4%). Extracted from Nielsen’s Q1 2015 Total Audience Report.

95%: The percentage of audience that’s tuned throughout the average radio commercial break compared to the audience immediately preceding the commercial break, according to an Arbitron Inc., Media Monitors, and Coleman Insights 2011 study, “What Happens When the Spots Come On,” that analyzed 17.9 million commercial breaks (93%).

40%-50%: The approximate percentage of sales/usage accounted for by the typical target demographic. Nielsen’s Target Profile Tapscan program is a great way to highlight this.

5%-75%: Five percent of Americans account for 75% of all Pandora listening according to Cumulus/Westwood One/Edison’s Q3 2016 share of ear. (5% and 74%).

It might not be a bad idea to print this out, keep it handy, and review it from time to time until these facts can flow off our tongues. Good selling in 2017!

Bob McCurdy is The Vice President of Sales for The Beasley Media Group and can be reached at [email protected]

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