Radio stations have always made it a priority to corral listeners with strong morning drive shows that amp brand loyalty and ratings. It is, however, actually afternoon drive that draws the highest cume. This fact may not be a news flash to programmers, but the difference in audience between AM and PM drive is indeed profound—as are potential opportunities for stations to better mine the daypart. "That huge line of cars going home is a goldmine," says Brian Demay, PD of Cumulus AC "Lite Rock 105" WWLI, Providence, RI and a Westwood One afternoon AC personality. "Recycling into evenings is a key part of my show every afternoon. The afternoon commute starts earlier and ends a lot later than people think." Information provided to Inside Radio from Nielsen RADAR for December 2015 reveals that PM drive (3pm-7pm) reaps the highest percentage of radio listeners 12+, with 73.5% of all Americans tuning in. Compare that to AM drive, at 66.7%, middays at 69.5% and evenings at 48.2%. Furthering the point, in the top-ranked New York City market, iHeartMedia’s 6+ leader AC "106.7 Lite FM" WLTW had an average 1.3 million monthly listeners in AM drive—and 2.2 million in PM drive—from May- July 2015. In market No. 2 Los Angeles for the same term, iHeart leader CHR KIIS-FM (102.7) averaged 1.0 million monthly listeners in AM drive and 1.6 million in PM drive.
Best Use Of PM Drive? Drive Home Brand Strategy. Morning radio’s mojo has long been commandeered by personality-driven shows. Not so for the more music-intensive afternoon drive. And according to nearly a dozen programmers and consultants surveyed by Inside Radio, that’s as it should be— although there is potential for more local content during the PM commute. Rob Roberts, OM for Cumulus Atlanta, believes that the wants and needs of afternoon drive listeners "are significantly different from morning drive. Without hard facts or a really good and trusted gut telling you it’s a direction your station should travel, I wouldn’t suggest creating an afternoon team." Doing so, of course, would have to be part of a station’s breakout strategy. "Afternoon personality programming is the future, but there is no cookie cutter solution," believes Jeff McHugh, consultant with The Randy Lane Co. "Some shows we helped launch in afternoon drive found success by beginning with short bursts of content with a high song count—with expanded airtime for content as the show’s chemistry and content gelled. In other cases, the right move was to keep the song count high and the content short but memorable." He also believes there are opportunities for "monster revenue growth through endorsement spot campaigns that you cannot have with just a music playlist or a generic host." Radio consultant Alan Burns cites the successful afternoon drive show on Hubbard’s hot AC KSTP-FM Minneapolis, where Moon and Staci "get great ratings, win Marconis and boost loyalty for the station." He acknowledges that there’s more demand for music in the afternoon, and less for information beyond traffic, "however, people will listen to great personalities in any daypart." The Right Balance—Nash PD John Foxx says PM drive has to have a balance with AM drive in order to keep brand strategy on point.
PM Drive is Ready-Made for Ad Opportunities. With audiences peaking in afternoon drive, is there greater potential to bring in new advertisers with a specific interest in a captive car audience heading home? The answer may be ‘yes,’ but so far, large national advertisers appear to be using use both drivetime dayparts equally. Media Monitors’ daypart Ad Analysis for the week ending Jan. 17, 2016, shows that there is little difference among national radio advertisers in AM and PM drive times. The usual suspects—GEICO, Macy’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walgreen’s and McDonalds—are among the top 10 in both dayparts. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t potential for such advertisers as restaurants and grocery stores to focus on PM. “If you believe Mom isn’t thinking about dinner on her drive, you are seriously underestimating the audience,” offers Cumulus Atlanta OM Rob Roberts. Keith Cunningham, PD of classic rock KLOS L.A. and Cumulus’ head of corporate programming for rock formats, says that among stations’ regular stable of advertisers—and with music formats in general—“mornings are still the first-class cabin clients want access to.” But he also believes that clients are “craving new and creative ways to integrate their messages into programming that features great TSL. As more content and personality become available in afternoons, we very well could see cases where an afternoon show begins to lead market demand.”
Nielsen: Millennial Voters Seek Radio On the Web. For radio stations targeting the 18-34 Millennial audience—and advertisers working to reach them—Nielsen serves up a bevy of new information about their media usage in front of the upcoming presidential election. The info came under the headline, "They Vote, They Decide: Finding Young Voters With Local and Social Media." The company says in its Local Watch Report that while the Millennial generation has "more ways to watch what they want, when they want and how they want," the group is 48% more likely to listen to a local radio station online than overall adult registered voters. Observing their other media usage, Nielsen posits, "There is no doubt that today’s media landscape is changing, and viewers are accessing content on their own terms. For political campaigns and candidates, these changes require them to be more strategic in how they connect with voters, especially younger voters, who can be reached through a large variety of platforms." In local markets, traditional media paired with digital and social media can be an effective way for political campaigns to connect with young voters at home or on-the-go, via live or time-shifted TV and streaming services or mobile devices, the report says. Nielsen also points out that more than 51 million adults 18-34 are registered to vote in their local districts, representing 26% of the registered population. Among Millennials, half fall into independent or non-affiliated parties while 29% identify as Democrats and 21% as Republicans. Among local markets, the greatest saturation of millennial voters is in Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix and Washington (29%), followed by Baltimore (28%), Atlanta, Portland, Charlotte, Houston and Sacramento.
Why Radio Ads Are Candidate’s Best Asset. In a lengthy news story, Time magazine explores what it deems “The Political Ad War You Haven’t Heard About,” explaining how “radio is a different kind of campaign battlefield.” In addition to lower costs, radio ads allow presidential candidates to target specific audiences. Perhaps more importantly, radio ads “also allow campaigns to keep other audiences from hearing those messages,” Time points out. Marvin Overby, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, notes that political ads on radio “tend to be more pointed, oftentimes more controversial. If they got broader coverage, [they] might spark some blowback from parts of the constituency.” An example is Donald Trump’s new ad airing in Iowa and South Carolina featuring evangelical leader Jerry Fallwell Jr., which cites a Bible verse, as Inside Radio reported Friday. Time reports, “The ad hints at a potential endorsement that would go a long way in shoring up votes with the Christian conservative voting bloc that Trump is reaching out to in both states. Airing it on Christian radio stations avoids overplaying the message to audiences that might not be interested.” Likewise, ahead of the recent Democratic debate in South Carolina, Hillary Clinton ran a radio ad featuring Rev. Donnie Hunt, a black associate minister at a Baptist church in the state. Jay Barth, a professor at Arkansas’ Hendrix College, adds in the Time story, “You can do some targeting on television, especially on cable, but nothing like you can on radio, where the demographics of the listeners are so much more tightly targeted than even on cable.” Because radio ads hit a narrowly defined audience, candidates can worry less about whether the ad will offend, Time concludes.
Myers Report Projects Healthy Ad Growth For Radio. The advertising market is showing surprising strength, with U.S. advertising spending expected to grow 7.7% to $194.6 billion in 2016, according to a report by MyersBizNet. The growth is attributed to, among other factors, a renewed confidence in traditional media, namely network TV, radio and out-of-home "as necessary drivers of audience reach and sales influence," the report says. Overall broadcast radio is forecasted to grow a healthy 5% this year to $16.5 billion, with the legacy, over-the-air side up 2.6% to $14.6 billion and digital advertising up 28% to $1.9 billion. Myers also predicts Hispanic radio will grow 8% to $720 million. And the reason? MyersBizNet chairman Jack Myers says it has a lot to do with the radio industry better conveying the medium’s ability to deliver targeted reach, resulting now in revenue growth. "Radio leadership has been more visible and led by iHeart has transformed the image of radio and moved it into the shiny new object bucket," adds Myers. Speaking of that bucket, also cited among ad growth factors—increased digital advertising, political and Olympic-related spending, and growing interest in online video, mobile and social media advertising. The bullish growth estimate follows more modest gains for 2015, when MyersBizNet estimated advertising spending grew 1.8% across media categories. While radio is showing positive growth, it lags behind other categories in part because the bulk of political and Olympic advertising goes to television, and digital categories are also attracting more ad dollars, Myers notes. Internet audio is expected to grow 25% to $2.05 billion. Online video advertising is forecast to jump 60% to $5.5 billion, while mobile and app advertising is estimated to grow 43% to $16.1 billion.
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