Don’t Ignore Your Weekends!

September 19, 2013

If weekends aren’t playing a significant role in your radio advertising campaigns, you are missing a tremendous opportunity to reach your target consumers as they prepare to make purchasing decisions. There’s no better time than on the weekend to reach consumers who are grocery shopping, eating at restaurants, deciding what to do and where to go with their families, working on home improvements, and so many other weekend activities that result in a purchase or expenditure.

Is anyone listening to radio during the Weekends? ABSOULTELY!

Now You Just Need to Prove It to Your Advertisers.

Start by showing them Radio’s Weekend Reach in your market. Simply pull the cume rating for the market. In most markets, you will more than likely find that Radio reaches upwards of 90% of all consumers during weekends.

OK, now you have shown your advertisers just how many consumers are listening to Radio during the weekend. Your next step is to prove that these consumers are actually spending time with Radio. Let’s compare weekend market listening levels (SA-SU 6A-12M) to Morning Drive (M-F 6A-10A). Your advertisers (and you) may be surprised to find that time spent listening to radio during the weekends equals the time spent during Morning Drive.

Now that you have established Radio’s value during the weekend, let’s move onto proving your station’s value. How strong is your station during the Weekend? While it’s great to show a weekend ranker, why not take it a step further and compare your station’s weekend numbers to other stations’ morning drive? It is possible that you reach or deliver more consumers during the weekend than your competitors do during Morning Drive. This is the type of information needed to really open up your advertisers’ eyes to the value that exists on Weekends. Research Director, Inc. clients receive these types of stories in your station one-sheet packages. Be sure to use them to justify rates and gain maximum value from your weekend inventory.

Remember that there are many misconceptions about Radio in the minds of advertisers, and “No One Listens during Weekends,” is one of them. You need to come armed with information in order to debunk this misconception and prove your worth. You may even have to go beyond the suggestions listed above to get the point across to the most stubborn advertisers. For example, take a look at your market hour-by-hour numbers for Monday-Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Where are the highest levels? You may find that some Saturday midday levels are equal to or higher than weekday listening.

Research Director, Inc. is here to help.  Please don’t hesitate to contact your Research Consultant for assistance.

-Karen Blanks, Sales Research Consultant

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