Last week, Radio Ink cited NuVoodoo’s Ratings Prospects 2026 study of listener behavior. One of the big takeaways was that listener interest in radio contests has spiked over the last year. As reported, economic uncertainty is likely a root cause for this.
At this writing, gas is averaging four dollars a gallon; all energy prices are up, along with staples and health care. People are nervous, and getting something for (virtually) nothing is a draw.
Radio has always done a great job at contesting. Unfortunately, as consolidation has grown the industry has become more reliant on nationwide contests. The article also points to the Jacobs Techsurvey 2025, which said only 16% of those surveyed cited contests as a main reason to listen to a station.
Yes, you can compete with hundreds of thousands of other listeners across the country to win $1000. Or you can stop by your local convenience store and buy a lottery ticket for a buck and maybe win millions. The perceived odds are about the same. Perceived is the keyword.
While NuVoodoo broke down prize values by interest, that does not tell you what your listeners want.
Concert tickets are prohibitively expensive for many, so that is always a good offer. But who would not turn down a $50 gas card? A free fill-up? Sign me up. Perceived value is what matters to your listeners.
Ease of entry is also very important. The fewer hoops you require them to jump through, the more participation you are likely to have.
That said, regardless of the prize or the process, most of your cume will not participate. Great contesting should be entertaining. They are about increasing occasions of listening, not bringing in additional cume. I’ve always used Wheel of Fortune as an example. 99.9% of Americans will never appear on that show, yet they will watch it five nights a week to play along. An exciting, fun, valuable, and—possibly—mysterious contest will engage those listeners who will never call or text or go to your website to enter.
If you are going to crank up the contest machine, there are ways to track its effectiveness.
In PPM markets, you can look at individual days to see if the contest has provided any lift. You can also run hour-by-hour reports to see if the “tune in and win” prompt was effective. In Diary markets, you can also look at hour-by-hour reports. You can also track “week of the survey” and “day of the survey” to see if your contesting created any listening spikes. Pay particular attention to your Time Spent Listening.
If you are fortunate enough to have access to DTS AutoStage data, you can zero in on contesting hours and days to see what tune was (or was not) generated.
Contesting is part of overall stationality. It should satisfy an emotional need. Make them fun. Include a “play along” element. And pay off with excited LOCAL listeners.
That last part is very important, as the cynical among us may doubt if your contest is legit.
If you would like some help in tracking your contests in the ratings multiverse, we’d be happy to help. Feel free to tell me I’m full of it at [email protected].
Steve Allan is the Programming Research Consultant at Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-295-6619 x25 or by email.
