Want To Sell More Radio? Get Heavy

1

(By Marc Greenspan) Maybe you saw the recent news that radio’s audience outpaced TV for the first time in media history. So how does radio sales capitalize on that? You have to get ‘heavy.’

Studying media consumption is a great way to increase radio sales – especially against TV. It focuses on the heaviness (time spent with media) shown in five levels of usage, or quintiles. You want to show the highest (or heaviest) level for each media. The fact is TV viewership in most local markets is dominated by an older, lower-income portion of the population. Using Media Heaviness and Quintile Analysis, a story can be built to show that those who consume the most broadcast TV are not ideal candidates for many advertisers.

So what about radio?

It is easy to point out the weaknesses of other media. However, negative selling by itself is just that – negative. Radio needs to show that its heavy listeners are a better target for advertisers. Let’s focus on quintile analysis. What is the profile of the 20% of the 18+ population who are the heaviest radio users? In most cases, they are demographically and socioeconomically more desirable than the heaviest TV users. Below is an example that compares radio’s heaviest listeners to television’s heaviest viewers.

Greenspan Age Quintile

Clearly, the heaviest users of radio are more concentrated in the 25-54 segment of this market’s population, while heavy TV viewers are concentrated in the 55+ demo.

This like-to-like comparison can be done for any qualitative category. Let’s take a look at annual household income.

Greenspan Household Income Quintile

In this case, 32.6% of all heavy TV viewers have an annual household income below $50,000. Comparatively, 31.5% of all heavy radio listeners have an annual household income of $150,000 or more, and 53.0% have an annual household income of $100,000 or more. Only 43.2% of heavy TV viewers fall into that category.

Does this valuable comparison work in your market? Research Director, Inc. can assist in preparing this analysis so you can close more radio sales!

This column is part of a series titled “Growing the Radio Pie.” To view past articles, visit The Ratings Experts at Research Director, Inc. online here.

 

Marc Greenspan is the CEO and founding partner of Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-295-6619 x11 or by email at [email protected]. Research Director, Inc. offers consulting services to media companies to help them grow their audience, ratings, and revenue. Read Marc’s Radio Ink archives here.

1 COMMENT

  1. Somehow, the over 55 listeners and viewers should be assessed to show more value. There are many who may seem to have lower incomes who are actually consumers with plenty of spending power. They are active and definitely still in the game, if not leading it.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here