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In 1981, Charlie Sislen was working at WWDC-FM, and his program director gave him the best insight ever. She said, “I don’t care how many people are listening to my radio station, all I care about is how many diarykeepers think they are listening to my station.” Program Directors have always strived to game the system to increase ratings without breaking the rules.
A recent study showed that the human attention span lasts a mere 8.25 seconds. Only 8.25 seconds in 2015? Absolutely, a large drop compared to 2000 when the average human attention span was 12 seconds. That means that a human being’s attention span is now less than a goldfish’s attention span (which is 9 seconds). So does your advertisement on the radio have the vigor to give a roundhouse kick to someone’s attention span? (Source: www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics)
There are numerous elements to radio sales. Much of it comes down to the quality of the schedule. What is a quality schedule? The first element is delivery and pricing. That means GRPs and CPP – how many rating points you are going to deliver and at what cost. However, a thorough schedule evaluation does not stop there. For advertising to work, a proper balance of reach and frequency must be achieved.
It has been about ten years since Arbitron, now Nielsen, started their transition from a diary-based survey to PPM in the larger markets. The premise was easy to understand; if your ears can hear it, then the meter will pick it up. That worked well in 2007 when most listening was to a station’s broadcast signal and through speakers.
As long as I have been in radio, I have heard the comparison of radio inventory with airline seats. Just like empty seats on a plane that has taken off, the value of a radio spot that goes unsold is zero. There is no way to regain that inventory once the plane has taken off or the stop set has run.
Let’s take the opportunity to learn from the airline industry. How are they adjusting their sales strategy?
