Facts vs Perceptions: For years everyone believed the world was flat cause all the "whitepaper" guys said so, but in time a few fought the groupthink fog and now we are all in agreement the world is round. Be careful of the "whitepaper" guys they'll convince you of something that is not true - probably cause they have skin in the game. Radio is healthy. It influences and it is, more than ever, a vital part of a strong interactive campaign. MaryBeth Garber, President of the Southern California Broadcasting Association is a warrior of the facts about radio. Her article below is in "Media Life Magazine" as a response to the false perceptions. -
Melissa Kunde, Executive Director - Portland Area Radio Council.
In Defense of Radio:
In late December, Media Life ran
an article headlined "Outlook for radio in 2010: More struggle" that
painted a dour picture for the medium in the coming year, focusing
largely on the lingering effects of the ad recession on revenues and
other challenges, such as competition from the internet (link).
The story generated an angry letter from Mary Beth Garber, president of
the Southern California Broadcasters Association, a trade group
representing radio stations. Garber challenged the article, arguing
that it unfairly cast the medium in a negative light. In response,
Media Life invited Garber to pen a guest column to set the record
straight.
Unfortunately the Media Life
article was but one of a number of pieces that have appeared about
radio based on misguided assumptions and personal opinions passed off
as facts.
Admittedly, I’m one of radio’s biggest supporters with very strong
opinions about the medium. That’s why the content of this article is
supported with real numbers published by the research companies that
media professionals, reporters and analysts rely on every day.
Contrary to media industry myth, radio listening has been positively affected by new technology.
Today’s radio sounds better than ever due to digital and HD technology.
But just as important as sound are the new delivery systems that have reenergized radio’s reach. Unlike most other traditional media, radio was able to take its broadcast content and its advertising model intact to the internet.
Today every computer, virtually every MP3 and iPod, and any cell phone capable of downloading apps is streaming radio’s over-the-air content.
Which helps explain why approximately nine out of 10 people of all age groups listen to radio each week, far more than any other medium except broadcast television (RADAR 103, December 2009).
And why the average person spends between about two and a half to
three hours or more each day with broadcast radio (Nielsen, RADAR,
Arbitron, Scarborough and The Media Audit).
In fact, people
spend more time with broadcast radio than they spend with any other
form of audio (Council for Research Excellence’s "Video Consumer
Mapping – How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio," October
29, 2009).
Virtually all of that radio listening is done live, in real time. It's the only mass medium that can make that claim.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the technologies and devices that are being used by critics to attack radio’s relevancy in today’s media world.
The internet: The next time you think about moving your ad dollars out of radio and into the internet, check Nielsen or ComScore for their weekly internet ratings.
You’ll discover that in any given week, about 60 percent more people will listen to radio than will log onto the internet.
While at the same time, simply adding radio to an internet-only ad campaign can lift your unaided brand recall by 450 percent (www.Radioadlab.com).
Internet-only radio: A new analysis of Pandora (an internet-only radio site) by www.bridgeratings.com notes Pandora's 1.03 hours of listening is lower than that of local simulcast streams, which range from 1.7 hours to 3.6 hours. They also say Pandora suffers, just like iPods, from listener fatigue, sending users back to local radio (online or over the air). Over half the people who listen to any internet radio say they have listened to local radio content streaming.
MP3 players: Apple just recently add FM radio receivers to the Nano and Touch iPods because demand for radio listening is increasing. A Paragon study showed people ages 14-24 increased their radio listening 11 percent and decreased their MP3 listening 13 percent. Even more enlightening, Edison says about 60 percent of 18-64s don’t own MP3 players.
Satellite radio: Has had virtually no effect on radio usage. Satellite radio subscriptions peaked in 2008 at 18.8 million, then dropped in 2009 to 18.5 million. That’s only 7.7 percent of all adults in the country. A recent BridgeRatings study projected both subscriptions and interest will continue to fall in the coming years.
Radio listening is trending up, not down.
All media trends up and down over a period of time.
But to hear radio’s critics you’d think this dynamic medium was on a slide to oblivion.
The fact is nothing could be further from the truth.
Radio’s weekly reach, unlike that of print, has declined only modestly during the past several years from a high of 94.9 percent in Spring 2001 to 91 percent in Fall 2008.
But radio has, again unlike print, now reversed that downward trend and listening continues to rise.
RADAR 103 shows radio reaching 92.5 percent of people over the age of 12, more than 236 million people each week. A recent Bridge Ratings study even shows a resurgence of local radio (without online streaming or mobile listening added) by most listener segments. So imagine what they would be with these numbers added. (http://www.bridgeratings.com).
Young People Listen to Radio
All of which helps explain the fact that RADAR, Nielsen, Arbitron, Bridge Ratings and Scarborough say between 85 percent and 92 percent of teens and 18-34s use radio every week. Nielsen says 92 percent of 18-34s spend about three hours a day with radio.
Obviously there’s a big disconnect between reality and perception when it comes to radio.
Since the advent of television, radio has been the media industry’s favorite whipping boy.
And it’s not just somebody else’s fault. Sure all those reporters, planners and analysts are listening to their friends instead of trusting the numbers, and the truth is that part of that perception is radio’s own fault, because the radio industry has been slow and quiet in its own defense or to publicize its noteworthy achievements. It’s another fact that cannot be denied.
But the time of letting others define our future is over.
Enough is more than enough.
Radio is one of the two most powerful advertising vehicles on earth. Still. And for a long time to come.
If you have questions about radio or any of these facts, check out the web sites of the sources cited or contact me at http://www.scba.com.
