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The following are the key points of those things we’ve learned regarding the PPM (People Meter) for Arbitron (USA) and the BBM (Canada) based on personal experience of client stations in markets that have already been exposed to more than a year’s worth of PPM trial/testing:
• With the new measurement, radio get’s much more cume than it ever got credit for in the diary. Managers should focus primarily on Programming and Marketing tactics that drive TSL of the heavy users of the product. In other words it’s not about “driving cume”. It’s about getting your P-1’s to make additional appointments through compelling programming and tactics. Keep them coming back!
• A lot of cume will be picked up that is now missed with the paper diary. This is true for ALL formats. Background formats and upper demo formats benefit the most.
• Time Spent Listening is built by repeat tune-in. It’s not necessarily getting someone to stay from one quarter hour to the next, but rather getting them to come back in repeat sittings. The more occasions of listening, the longer the Time Spent Listening
• Fewer stop-sets that are longer make for the best Time Spent Listening. Running more stop-sets that are shorter does nothing, but increase the opportunity for more tune-out. “Less is More” has NOT increased TSL.
• The majority of the audience sits through stop-sets. Nearly 75% of all listeners stay through all commercials.
• Among those that do tune out, the majority are gone before the conclusion of the first commercial. Therefore, it makes sense to air commercials in as few stops as possible. The more of an hour you can cover with music …the greater your Time Spent Listening will be. FEWER commercial stop-sets lead to higher TSL.
• The sample was to participate in the panel for an entire year. Participants are turning over much faster than the one year period. In several of the cases the majority of the panelists turned over in 90 days.
• Positioning remains an important part of programming. Despite the fact that the People Meter captures the station name and frequency, listeners need to know WHO they are listening to and WHERE to go back to, in order to have repeat occasions of listening.
• However the new measurement allows us to be more efficient in the ways we communicate. It’s no longer paramount in importance to pound the listener with call letters and positioning statements. It’s no longer about being top of mind “on voting day”. Some stations are experimenting with new ways to talk to the audience. An example would be the song ends and the jock simply starts talking to the listener without lots of traditional DJ chatter prefacing the break.
• Positioning remains important. Procter & Gamble continues to position highly successful products like Tide. There is zero value to eliminate branding from your radio station. What are you famous for? Sell that benefit to the audience. You STILL need to position your station.
• Who are you? What’s your name and address? Some PD’s believe that they will be able to stop saying the name and frequency of their radio station … NOT if they want listeners to remember where they are on the dial and what they do. SAY your station name & frequency. It remains very important.
• No Talk Segues should make your station sound cleaner. It exaggerates your more music position. It may not increase your TSL, but it certainly enhances the music you play.
• Listeners are still loyal to their favorite station. In Philadelphia, for example, 69% of a consumers listening goes to one station.
• Biggest Challenges are a) getting people to wear the PPM daily and stay in the panel b) adult 18-24 and Hispanic representation c) reach and frequency models for sales are based on diary models.
• Men TSL is much higher in PPM and women TSL is much lower. Men did a poor job with the diary and women generally over-reported
• For AC stations the audience composition will change dramatically. For example a client station had a composition of 70% women (total AQH). The number is now 54%. Lot’s more men. In the most recent survey, the same station B out-ranked the sports talk station with men total week 25-54.
• There is more cume in PM drive than AM drive. Recycle Day-part to Day-part. Promote your most important items inside of PM-drive and move the audience through your station.
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