Bouvard Defends Radio From Miller

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August 31, 2017

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It was only a matter of time before one of radio’s loudest cheerleaders came to the defense of the industry after the release of the Larry Miller report (shouldn’t more radio executives do the same?). In a new blog called “Surprise: A Slam Piece On AM/FM Radio Gets It Wrong,” Cumulus/Westwood One Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says Miller’s report incorrectly asserts the demise of AM/FM radio among younger Americans.

To make his point Bouvard was very detailed with accompanying charts where he states that:

1. AM/FM radio reach is rock steady among kids 6-11, teens, and 18-24s. From May 2011 to May 2017 the number of listeners in the three demographics is virtually unchanged.
2. The older you are, the more you listen. As consumers age, they have more available time to spend with media. Time spent with AM/FM radio progressively grows from kids 6-11, teens, 18-24, and 25-34. A similar pattern occurred in 2011. AM/FM radio is the soundtrack of the American worker. As consumers enter the workforce, AM/FM radio time spent grows.
3. Each week, AM/FM radio reaches 90% of younger Americans.
4. AM/FM radio remains the number one source of music discovery.
5. For advertisers targeting 18-34 Millennials, AM/FM radio is America’s number one mass reach media. Nielsen recently issued a massive analysis of 500 return-on-investment studies of ad campaigns. Campaign reach was the number one media factor that creates sales lift. To drive sales, an ad campaign has to reach a lot of people. According to Nielsen’s Comparable Metrics Report, AM/FM radio is number one in 18-34 Millennial reach, beating TV, social media, smartphone video, and audio streaming.

Bouvard says the moral of the story is “don’t always believe everything you read, especially from streaming music royalty organizations.”