(By Ken Benson) For decades radio programmers have been obsessed with removing any programming element deemed to cause tune-out, whether a song, an irritating ad, or an obnoxious DJ.
We’re also guilty of significantly reducing talk and music variety believing these changes would lead to increases in time spent listening. Regardless at our attempts to minimize tune-out, PPM tells us the average listening occasion remains only 10 to 11 minutes. Therefore, the only way to increase you share is to get more listening occasions from your cume.
Imagine what could happen to your ratings if you were to shift your attention from liminating tune-out to creating tune-in? Watching the recent Summer Olympics coverage, I was beat over the head with reasons to watch more and more coverage today, tomorrow, and beyond.
It’s a simple mind shift from focusing on what we’ve already done to what we’re going to do.
Here’s a few Tune-In tactics you can implement at your station:
Show Promos – instead of always focusing on what you missed, concentrate on
promoting reasons to listen again
Give Specific Times – listeners are busy, make it easy it to listen. If you have
something big and worthwhile going on. Tell them exactly when they should listen.
Tease Me – effective teasing creates intrigue and listeners may stick around a little
longer or come back to hear more. This involves an emotional hook or story pay-off
rather than just a song tease.
Story Arcing – craft storylines in your show or station that gradually unfold over
multiple shows or dayparts
Cross-Promotion – you station should sound like one interconnected family by talking
about other talent and shows
FOMO – concentrate on creating Fear of Missing Out moments every day
Programmers are stunned when we share research showing how few of their Morning P1s
listen to their favorite morning show 5 days a week. We’re not saying to forego the tune-out
tactics but placing a greater emphasis on tune-in may be a better bet for increasing TSL.
Ken Benson is an award-winning contemporary radio and television programmer. He is also a co-founder and partner in P1 Media Group, providing insights and strategies to leading media companies around the world. He can be reached at [email protected].
