Understanding the different permutations of an audience –
their behaviors and preferences - is pivotal to the success of any venture.
That’s why
NPR,
in partnership with Edison Research, crafted a study designed to fully
dimensionalize not only NPR’s audience specifically but the radio audience in
general. The result is their recently released
Radio: Live on Air and Everywhere which teases out six specific and
unique radio audience segments, matching them to NPR, to AM/FM Radio listeners
and even to Television.
Why Do the Study?
“We really
wanted to take a fresh look at the radio platform and the role it plays in
people’s lives, particularly to help media buyers,” explained Susan Leland,
NPR's Associate Director of Audience Insights. In an increasingly digital
world, it was important to prove out that radio is still very important. And it
is.
The current
state of radio is robust. Leland shared that, “Radio consistently has the
largest reach of any media. It was 88% in the latest Nielsen data, just ahead
of smartphone apps. It also counts for the largest share of audio listening and
when in the car, radio counts for the majority of listening time.” In addition,
Edison Research found that 63% of Americans listen to AM/FM radio each day and
89% listen each week.
For NPR in
particular, this study comes at a momentous time. “This spring, NPR celebrated
its 50th anniversary. We have a great legacy in the radio space,” explained
Lamar Johnson, NPM Vice President, Marketing. “Part of that legacy involves
having an understanding of the radio listenership and the audience. It is an
ongoing objective for us,” he added.
Radio: Live on Air and Everywhere
Methodology
NPR and
Edison Research used three studies for this report. “First is share-of-ear
which is a diary study of over 4,000 people age 14 and older that we conduct in
the U.S. quarterly. We measure the amount of time people are spending with
audio. That’s how we identified the growth in time spent with spoken word,”
explained Megan Lazovick, Vice President, Edison Research who added, “We
followed up on that share-of-ear information by conducting some in-depth
interviews via zoom. Things that we learned from those in depth interviews were
used to put together an additional survey … a national online survey of 1,000
monthly spoken word audio listeners, which is about 75% of the US population.”
Six Unique Radio Audience Segmentations
One of the
major takeaways from this study is the clear delineation of the radio audience
into six distinct and unique segmentations, each with their own preferences,
demographic skew and behavioral patterns. “One of the interesting things about
the six groups and the spectrum is that the more engaged group is, the more
open they are to advertising,” stated Leland.
Radio
Heads. These super fans essentially use radio for everything. They are more
likely to be female under the age of 54 and over-index among African Americans.
They listen to all formats on all platforms and spend more time with AM/FM than
any other segment. Not only are they advertiser-friendly, they have the money
to spend to purchase products and services because they have high employment, higher
education and higher average income. Radio Heads represent 9% of all radio
listeners.
Connection
Seekers use radio as a way to connect and understand. They tend to be older
women and are the second heaviest users of the medium. They gravitate to the
spoken word, tend to listen at home and are also very advertiser-friendly. They
represent 16% of all listeners.
Infomaniacs
where listening is driven by news, skews male. They tend to listen in the
morning, prefer the spoken word and gravitate to formats such as news, sports,
personalities and talk. They index high for NPR listening and are open to
advertising and sponsorships. They represent 18% of listeners.
Rhythm
Rockers whose listening is driven by music, is heavily younger female,
Latinx and of lower incomes. They are more likely to stream, but AM/FM is king
in the car. They represent 27% of all listeners.
Laid-back
Listeners who listen to radio in the background tend to be age 35+ who are radio-centric,
preferring to listen on traditional platforms rather than streaming. More than
half of this group listen to ads and prefer music over other formats. They are 17%
of all radio listeners.
Habitualists
listen to radio when it’s the only option available. They also skew 35+ and are
not that interested in audio in general. Yet, more than half say that they
listen to ads on radio and still spend three hours listening in an average week
and would miss radio if it were no longer available. They prefer to listen on
traditional platforms and not on streaming ones and their preferred format is
music rather than the spoken word. They represent 13% of all listeners.
NPR Listener Segments
For NPR
listeners specifically, “You will find them in every segment, but they are
particularly likely to be Infomaniacs, which are news driven users, which makes
a lot of sense, and they also tend to be pretty heavy listeners,” noted Leland.
They're also more likely to be Radio Heads and Connection Seekers. “Our
audience tends to be heavy listeners to radio. It keeps some listeners company
throughout the day with the news and especially the conversations. It’s like
having a friend in your house who's with you all day,” she added. “The thing
the thing that most distinguishes the NPR listener on any platform is that they
tend to be really interested in learning and have a sense of real civic
engagement and responsibility.”
For Johnson,
a notable takeaway from the study was, “the increase in listenership among
African American Latino and female women listeners, particularly in the younger
13-34. It's important for us at NPR to attract more diverse and younger
audiences. Those are two fairly big takeaways that were pretty eye opening for
us.”
Open to Advertising
The heavier
the listener, the more receptive they are to advertising but, according to
Lazovick, all segments of radio listeners, even those who are less engaged, are
open to advertising. “They are getting exposed to advertising. They (may not
be) as engaged but they are still there they're still open to the messaging,
just not as intensely as other segments. The more engaged a group is with
radio, the more likely you can influence them with the advertising.”
She added
that, “Most people believe that ads are a fair trade for their listening time.
They understand the value that they're getting through radio in exchange for
listening to a few ads.” When it comes to NPR, “We asked specific questions to
NPR listeners and a final key finding is that NPR listeners are very open to
sponsorship members’ messages.”
According to Leland, “We asked people on the survey about
actions people have taken as a result of hearing advertising and we saw that
the more engaged a listener is, more likely they are to say that they
considered a product and purchased a product because of an ad they heard on
radio.” Lazovick noted, “And because we know NPR listeners tend to be that more
engaged listener, their numbers are higher in terms of those same questions
about gathering information about a company product or service, purchasing
things, recommending products. They are more likely to have done that than the
average AM/FM radio listener. The numbers are high on both sides, but NPR
listeners are a bit higher.” Local advertising in particular can benefit from a
radio presence.
Radio Compared to Television
When it
comes to attracting a focused consumer, advertisers are strongly advised to
turn to radio. Even compared to television, radio shows superiority in terms of
focusing attention. “When we watch TV, most people these days are doing it
while they're distracted with another device. They may be watching streaming
that doesn't have any advertising and they may be watching broadcast and
avoiding the ads by switching to their smartphone. But when people listen to
NPR content, they really are engaged,” stated Leland who added, “We find that
people are much less likely to multitask when they're listening to our content
in part because they are less likely to multitask with other media. They're
going to be multitasking other ways - doing chores, cooking dinner, going for a
walk - but they're not going to be trying to listen to a conversation on Fresh
Air and watch TV at same time. You need to give you the whole attention of your
brain.”
Pandemic Impact
While
broadcast radio declined early in the pandemic when lifestyles were disrupted, it
has been on the upswing and getting back to normal now. “While we saw people
shifting away from broadcast radio, we also saw more people tuning into station
streams,” Leland noted. In fact, NPR’s listener hours on streams were up from
last year. But, as Leland explained, as Americans get back into their cars and
commute, there will be a strong return to AM/FM listenership.
Next Steps
This is the
first study of its kind for NPR but not the last. “This study was really
enlightening to us in terms of understanding the segments and the behaviors. We'll
be talking further about what we might do in this lane in the future,” Johnson
concluded.
