93.7% of Adults Working From Home Listen to Local AM/FM Radio
(By Mike Bustell) We are living in unprecedented times for sure. With millions of Americans being sent home to work remotely as a precaution due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, what are advertisers and salespeople to do?
First, I say, welcome! I’ve worked from home for years. In fact, 12.2% of American workers were already working full-time remotely from their homes before the virus outbreak. As a remote worker I can tell you that it is near-impossible to be at peak productivity without listening to something that requires no effort. I listen to our Hubbard radio stations on my Amazon Alexa. “Hey Alexa…stream WTOP!”… “Hey Alexa… play 98 KUPD,” etc. As a remote worker I rack up the quarter hours and know where to buy my windows, who to call to fix my roof, where to buy a new Jeep, you name it. Frequency sells!
With online music services I find myself getting frustrated, yelling, “Hey Alexa…play the next one,” as I only really like every third song. Radio stations have Programmers and Music Directors who are truly artists or they would not have survived as long as they have. Station personalities become your “friends” that you get to know and love. The below graph of adults who work full-time remotely from their homes illustrates that I am not alone. A whopping 93.7% of remote workers are listening to local AM/FM radio!
You will notice that listening to podcasts is the second most-listened-to audio choice for remote full-time workers. Listening to podcasts now surpasses all online music services. Like listening to local AM/FM radio, listening to podcasts also requires no effort, and it’s something YOU choose.
So don’t freak out — and tell your advertisers not to freak out either. You’ll likely see local AM/FM radio listening average quarter hour ratings INCREASE! You’ll likely see time spent listening increase, too.
Smart advertisers will carpet-bomb all these new, captive, at-home workers with their message during these next few weeks with an equal increase in their business.
Mike Bustell is VP Market Research, Hubbard Radio. Email him at [email protected]
