(By Marc Greenspan) New data is available every month in PPM markets. Depending on the market size, diary data is released two, four, or twelve times per year. For most markets, new Nielsen Scarborough consumer data releases twice each year and Media Audit consumer data releases once a year. All of this information can be overwhelming. So how do you determine what to consider in profiling your listeners?
At Research Director, Inc., we are experts at finding the right nuggets to profile your audience. Today we will focus on the quantitative aspects to consider. Whether you choose to look at a single month survey or a multi-book average, here are the things you want to analyze for your station profile.
- Trends for AQH and Cume Persons. Is your cume stable, increasing or decreasing? This indicates the size of your audience. Are you attracting new listeners? What about your AQH persons trend? Is it going up or down? Or is it remaining flat? AQH reflects the amount of time listeners spend with the station and helps to build frequency of a message. Start with 12+ or another broad demo and then look at your target demos. You should also look at total week versus specific dayparts.
- Current Rank for AQH and Cume Persons. This can be analyzed for your target demos for total week versus specific dayparts. Where do you have a higher rank: AQH or cume? Higher ranks for AQH means your station has an advantage for Frequency. If you have higher ranks for cume, the station has an advantage to deliver Reach. Which is your strength? This enables you to choose your best positioning for sales.
- Audience Sharing (Duplication). Who are the top five stations with which you share audience? You may be surprised to find it isn’t always a format competitor. Run the Duplication Grid report in Tapscan for your target demo, total week and/or Radio Prime, and sort by your station. The top stations are your biggest competitors to get on a buy.
- Composition Reports. Using the composition reports is the most helpful to fine-tune the demos in which you can compete best for buys. The higher the composition, the more efficient the station is in delivering the target. You can look at age, gender, ethnicity, listening locations, or geography (where they live) to further profile your listeners.
If you are running reports, you will need to run dozens of variations for the trend and rank reports … or you can reach out to us at Research Director, Inc. for our proprietary Snapshot Rank & Trend Reports. It will save you a ton of time and our expert insights are included.
Be on the lookout for our “Profiling Your Listeners – Part II” in which we outline the qualitative aspects to include in your station profile.
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.
