Audio Delivers Big Results For Both Consumers and Advertisers

Audio in its many platforms has become a beguiling alternative for both consumers and advertisers compared to television and social media.

For consumers, the idea of “radio” has taken on new meaning. It is no longer an analogue, old timey sound box. Now it offers a range of new platforms that provide a myriad of fascinating content from transportive AM/FM to self-select and recommendation engine content, to podcasts to audio books to information provided by smart speakers.

For marketers, the cost of television advertising defies gravity with increasing prices for inventory despite a shrinking and fragmented audience. CPMs for social media have also risen with diminishing results. In a marketplace riven with rising costs and diminishing returns, advertisers are finding that audio delivers the consumers they want in an immersive environment with cost effective options. Notably, these consumers are much younger than television whose average age is 57 years compared to 49 for radio.

A recent study by iHeart revealed that consumers currently spend about a third (31%) of their media time with audio. But, despite the fact that ad-supported radio drives scale, advertising dollars have yet to match this amount of usage. With radio, the ability to add incremental reach with lower cost should be extremely appealing.

With more data available through various and new platforms as well as the increasing use of machine learning to normalize and structure the data, audio offers a heightened ability to target cross-platform. Audio creative has also taken giant leaps in quality, efficiency and prove-ability compared to video. Currently, audio is as measureable as digital and TV and offers measurement solutions for every KPI and channel. Further, being able to target while knowing that consumer privacy is maintained (unlike in social media) offers an additional comfort level for marketers.

Talent plays a big role in the trust and influence of audio ads. Seventy-seven percent of listeners trust the information they receive from radio personalities which makes radio two times as trusted as social media. When it comes to overall impact, radio proves to be the most influential at the point of purchase compared to other media, with AM/FM radio accounting for 49% of visits to stores within a half hour of exposure to messaging. The second highest media was Live TV at 26% and, interestingly, outdoor ranked 5^th at 13%. Overall, 75% of measured consumers indicate that radio is the last media contact they have before shopping.

When it comes to iHeart specifically, their ability to reach a mass market audience age 6+ compared to television and social media is unsurpassed, according to Nielsen and Comscore. And, in a special Tik Tok case study using radio to drive new audience growth, iHeart, specifically, out-performs other audio companies in attracting adults 18+. Overall the company reaches 90% of Americans with both national and local presence. Its strength is proving successful among marketers with increasing spend topping $4 billion, dwarfing other audio options.

So in a media world of increasing content and platform choice, technological advancements, a call for privacy that still offers the ability to target effectively, there is no better choice than audio for both consumers and marketers. Radio delivers on all levels.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

Understanding the Radio Listener with Megan Lazovick of Edison Research, Lamar Johnson of NPM and Susan Leland of NPR

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.

Measuring The Power of Spoken Word Audio. An Interview with Edison Research’s Megan Lazovick

Audio has dramatically changed since the early days of radio. While we were once bound by schedules and limited subjects, there is now a dizzying array of choices that can be enjoyed wherever and whenever we want. Audio goes beyond music to what we call Spoken Word Audio which, according to Megan Lazovick, Vice President of Edison Research, “is broader than podcasting. It is news, sports, talk and personality and audio books. And sports can be play by play or sports talk.”

Lazovick knows spoken word audio well. Her company has recently released a comprehensive study on behalf of NPR on major trends and opportunities in the medium.

Methodology

The Spoken Word Audio full report, “draws from three different studies,” explained Lazovick. The first is a quarterly diary Share of Ear study that has been fielded since 2014 of 4000 people age 14 and older that tracks amount of time people spend with audio through devices and location. Through this study, “we knew right away about the growth of spoken word audio.” The next step was doing a qualitative study. “We identified those people who are spending more time with spoken word audio with qualitative interviews. And then we followed up with an additional 1000 qualitative online interviews with listeners who are 18 years of age and older.” The result was a massive amount of data that had to be collected and analyzed.

The combination of both quantitative and qualitative datasets offered greater insights. “We knew the Share of Ear study gave us the ‘what’ – what people are doing. Then we wanted to understand the ‘why’, what are all the reasons why people would possibly do it. And then we took all of those ‘whys’ and put it back into a survey and that helped us quantify the ‘whys’,” she explained.

Major Takeaways

“The major takeaway from the study is that the time spent with Spoken Word Audio has increase 30% over the past six years and in just the last year it has grown by 8%,” she stated and added, “When we looked closely at who is listening more, we saw from that same (Share) data set, that the highest levels of growth were coming from women, African Americans, Latinos and the younger age group age 13 to 34.” Notably, as spoken word has been increasing, music share of listening has been decreasing, “almost 8% over six years.” She added that 75% of all Americans listen to Spoken Word Audio each month with 43% tuning in daily.

I was curious to know if there were any surprises in the results for this somewhat unusual year. Lazovick paused and then noted that this year, in addition to historical advantages of convenience and multi-tasking capabilities, the standout reasons for increased consumption included personal growth, the availability of better content and a need to improve mental health.

In particular, she added, “Honestly, while it shouldn’t be too surprising, given that NPR has been focusing on reaching diverse audiences, I was impressed by the large gains among African American and Latino listeners.” These audiences gravitated to topics that include Identity and Religion and the reasons they gave for increasing their consumption was, she explained, “it’s easier to find content, it’s made for people like you, it makes you feel more connected.” Possibly as a sign of the stressful time we are in, “Mental health was among the top three reasons for (increased listening) among Hispanics and African Americans,” she added.

There were also significant differences between men and women. “Traditionally men have been spending more time with spoken word audio and that is still true today. But the gap is closing and there is a bigger gain in women. It is also true with young people with bigger gains this year,” she stated.

Looking Forward From an Unusual Year

Is this an outlier year? The pandemic has certainly impacted aspects of the study, including the methodology. “We typically conduct qualitative interviews in person and we had to pivot a little bit. We planned to do this study and then the pandemic happened so we decided to conduct zoom interviews,” she explained, “and that turned out to be a really great experience, actually.” Being able to place respondents within their home settings added context to their answers. “And of course, we saw changes in the data too,” she added. “We were able to see the shift in listening patterns through the Covid-19 disruption. Forty percent of spoken word audio listeners age 13 years and older say they are listening to more since quarantine restrictions.”

Despite the unusual nature of today’s media environment, Lazovick believes that this year’s study is predictive of the future. “One of my favorite things about spoken word audio is that people are finding content that appeals directly to them and the amount of material out there is so vast that if you are willing to look, you are going to find something that’s meaningful to you. I think more and more people are figuring that out,” she concluded.

This article first apeeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

Nielsen Millennials Reveal Their Cohorts Digital Power

In a stroke of research brilliance, Nielsen has launched the second volume in a series of Millennial studies that was created by Nielsen’s own Millennial employees.  As their press release noted, who better to measure the shared “experiences of this up-and-coming generation than associates who are most familiar with the lifestyles that the data tracks?” This most recent study focuses on digital music and digital communication. 

“What we have found in our Nielsen Millennials on Millennials series of reports is that this generation is significantly different from previous generations,” stated Ronjan Sikdar, VP of Media Analytics at Nielsen.  “The sheer size of the Millennial population makes them game changers for advertisers and media companies. They are very social, far more digitally savvy and yet far less loyal to the digital music and messaging apps they use.   We will continue to track how that will play out in the future,” he added.

The highlights of this study are as follows:

      1.       Unlike Gen Z many Millennials are entering their peak earning years and, because they are the second largest generation (to the Boomers) they wield tremendous spending power. However the study indicates that they have completely unique consumer characteristics which pose both challenges and opportunities for brands. The way Millennials spend, shop, consume media and interact is anything but familiar from a historical perspective.   

     2.       Since they are truly the first all-digital generation, their digital engagement is the nexus for predicting their consumer behaviors. Every digital channel represents a key interaction and deep connection point for brands, marketers and advertisers.

     3.       Millennials are not as loyal to specific media. They are spending much less time on TV than previous generations. But that doesn’t mean they’re consuming less content. The report notes that to the contrary, Millennials are engaged with digital services during all waking hours of the day and many keep their devices close at hand—and turned on—when they sleep.

     4.       Despite digitization, radio still has a large following across the generations, especially Millennials. The reach of digital radio has increased (and broadcast radio is holding its own) across all generations for the past five years. In fact, according to Nielsen’s first-quarter 2017 Total Audience Report, weekly reach among Millennials is 93% and they are spending the same amount of time listening to traditional radio as they were a year ago despite more competition for their attention.

      5.       Podcasts and on-demand streaming are other radio options for Millennials. Nielsen’s 2016 Year-End Music report noted that 60% of Millennials use two or more apps to stream music vs under 40% for adults 35+. Thirty-Seven percent of Millennials listen to podcasts at least once a week and 13% listen every day (significantly higher than the 5% of consumers 35+ who listen daily).

     When it comes to media choices, Millennials are ambidextrous. While they have increasing choices of platforms and content services, they are able to easily consume content on many of them. Nielsen concludes that these newer media options are not cannibalizing existing ones which is good news for content providers. Advertisers, however, need to be nimble and knowledgeable so as to be able to reach these valuable consumers at the right time on the right platform.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

The (Un)Surprise of Radio

With the proliferation of devices and platforms, one might wonder which one has the greatest impact on viewership. A recent Comparable Metrics Report by Nielsen noted that TV through the glass captures 92% of all of the viewing in the total US. But the real surprise – to some - was the power of radio, at 93% reach. 

AM/FM Radio, with 228 million listeners across the U.S., still has the greatest reach of all individual mediums. That is more than number two ranked Live+DVR/Time Shifted TV (218 million) and number three ranked Smartphone APP+Web (203 million). And Radio has the highest reach among Adults 18-34 at 92% compared to TV’s 79% and Smartphone’s 91%.

One factor driving this growth is the surge in news radio listening across all age groups, especially Adults 18-34. Nielsen reports that Americans listened to more than 11.5 billion hours of news across portable people meter (PPM) markets last year, up from 10.5 billion in 2015.

iHeart Media’s President of Insights, Research and Data Analytics, Radha Subramanyam, is one of those who are un-surprised by Radio’s strength. “Radio remains the #1 mass reach medium in America,” she noted, “Sound is on a growth trajectory while other media are under pressure from fragmentation. So we ask our brand and marketing partners to always ask - What is your Sound Strategy?"

How Nielsen Compares All Categories of Media

When comparing the diverse range of media platforms and offerings, Nielsen must align the methodologies and metrics so as to display an “apples to apples” view of consumption across TV, Radio, TV-connected devices, PCs, Smartphones, and Tablets. But it all boils down to three basic concepts that are the same across all categories of media measurement: how many (which is essentially average weekly reach), how often (number of days per week), and how long (both gross minutes and average minute audience).

Radio’s Surprising Advantage

·         In Audience Distribution: Radio as a whole – from AM/FM to Smartphone, Tablet and PC Audio – is perfectly distributed by age. Sixteen percent of Adults 18-34 and Adults 18-49 and 50+ used Radio, whereas TV in all of its forms skews older. Twenty-nine percent of Adults 18-34 viewed TV compared to 54% of Adults 50+.

·         In Weekly Reach:  More Americans listen to Radio in an average week than any other media (93%) – more than TV (89%), Smartphones (83%), PCs (50%, TV-Connected Devices (44%) and Tablets (37%). And Radio is young with a reach among Adults 18-34 (92%) outpacing all other media including Smartphones (91%).

·         In Diversity: Hispanics are the most avid Radio listeners with over 14 hours per week of AM/FM Radio.

Radio’s Future According to Nielsen

Radio is projected to be resilient, young and a platform that embraces digitization and this may be surprising to some people. Tony Hereau, Vice President of Audience Insights, Nielsen stated, “Despite all the growth in digital media, AM/FM radio is actually growing too.” And the medium remains youthful. “Looking at the 18-34 year olds, we see Radio leading all media at 92% weekly reach.  It was 92% last year as well.  The trend is very consistent,” he noted.  In the digital world, “AM/FM Radio is holding up remarkably well.  Streaming audio is growing but it is more of a replacement for your CD collection rather than your favorite Radio station.” 

Hereau concluded, “For decades, TV has always been thought of as a reach medium while Radio was considered more of a frequency medium.  Over the last few years people have been realizing that Radio is actually a reach medium too.  It is not a new story.  It just became a lot more important when it can be compared against TV and Smartphones.”

Radio is as fresh, youthful and relevant as ever. To many, that is no surprise.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com