Your custom request has been sent. We’ll contact you if we have any additional questions.
* Indicates a required field.
When PPM was new to all of us, a lot of us focused on clocks. Proper placement of commercial breaks were analyzed to maximize every quarter-hour.
Being off by just a few minutes can have a detrimental impact on your ratings, and therefore your bonus.
So what do you do?
One measure of radio’s long-term health is listening levels. On an AQH basis, how many people are tuning to radio? This can outline who is using radio and how overall listening is shifting. Previous blogs have implored radio programming and salespeople to pay attention to this important measure for their market and constantly track it.
While local market PURS (for diary markets) or PUMMs (for PPM markets) are an important measure, they are also valuable to look at nationally. In other words, what is going on with radio listening around the country?
Here the news is good…
There was a time when radio stations spent a good number of resources to get to know their listeners. Whether it was auditorium tests, focus groups, or perceptual studies, they gathered important information about their likes and dislikes. More importantly, they learned how these folks felt about their station – and about the competition.
Over the past few years, these important information-gathering activities have become less common, especially in medium to small markets. At the same time, people’s audio options have exploded. The consumer has more choices, and we know less about them. This could be harmful to your station’s long-term success.
Westwood One recently released a study about radio listening to NFL games. The gist is that those who listen to the NFL on the radio are more engaged than those who just watch the games on television. The study talks – in great detail – about the quality of the audience.
We work with a number of sports stations across the country, and we can state that there is also a vast quantity of people who tune to NFL – and college – football games on the radio.
This may seem counterintuitive….
The number of natural disasters – fires, floods, hurricanes – that have recently hit the country is mind-numbing. Tens of millions of lives have been turned upside down as a result of these events. Right when residents need news and information, their electricity is out, and internet access is non-existent.
Consider this:
When power is down, people can’t turn to TV to receive important notices.
Downed cell towers can prevent text alerts.
Both of these things affect internet access.
