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Targeting the PPM People: How Are They Different? (Part 5: Living in the Digital World)
May 7, 2012
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Some of your listeners are living more of a digital-data lifestyle than others, and they will make up a bigger part of your PPM audience than they do of your "actual" audience. Thus, to maximize your ratings and revenue success, remember to skew your targeting more to today’s digital culture in everything you do. Strongly consider targeting these people, and their lifestyle, in your research, your advertising content, your media selection, your playlist and rotations, your talent content, your contests, events, and other promotions, and in fact your overall stationality.
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To succeed today, stations must maximize their appeal to those who control that success: those who wear a PPM. And the PPM-friendly population, pure and simple, is nowhere close to a representative sample of the population in general. NuVoodoo’s national study of 1000 adults 18-49 shows that there are several key differences between radio users who will agree to take the PPM and those who will not. This is the fifth article in our series discussing those differences and how they can help stations win and change the future.
First, please bear in mind that 100% of our sample are already research-receptive people: people who at least agreed to answer a few questions. Experience tells us that only about 30% of the population will participate in any research. Therefore, any information we share about “Arbitron-friendlies” should be considered in this context. We also know respondents are always quicker to agree to a theoretical question than to commit to the actual behavior. So the percentages who say they will are always greater than the percentages who will in fact do so.Â
The PPM, by its nature, is an intrusive high-tech connection between an otherwise private individual and The Outside. So it should come as no surprise that people who are already comfortable being constantly digitally connected are going to be much more receptive than others to admitting one more such intrusion.
Smartphone Users Are Much More Willing than Others to Take a PPM
Ownership of iPhones, Androids, and their cousins has increased dramatically over the past two years, but it is hardly universal. Among those multitudes who don’t have a smartphone, 52% say they would accept a PPM, while 28% say no. A ratio of 1.8 to 1. (Again, this is within that small minority of the population who will respond to any research.)  But among those who are already comfortable wearing the pocket computer device we call a smartphone, 63% are willing to wear the additional pocket computer device we call a PPM, while only 19% say no. A yes:no ratio of 3.4 to 1: Almost twice as high! In other words, listeners who have smartphones will be over-represented, and thus will have a disproportionate impact on your ratings.
Heavy Internet Users Are Much More Willing, Light Users Much Less Willing
Like the smartphone owner, the heavy Internet user is likely to be already well-assimilated into, and presumably more accepting of, a culture of constant digital connectivity and easy access to information. The light Internet user, like those without smartphones, will tend to be less assimilated and accepting. And, sure enough, the heaviest Internet users respond much more positively to the PPM question (at a whopping yes:no ratio of 3.6 to 1) than do the lightest Internet users (at a far weaker yes:no ratio of 1.5 to 1). In other words, listeners who spend a lot of time on the Internet will be over-represented, and thus will have a disproportionate impact on your ratings, while those who spend only a little time online will have far less impact.
What this means to you
We strongly suggest that you orient yourself to the “digital world” types in your audience coalition. Every station, of course, appeals to people who like its music (or spoken-word) content. But beyond that one commonality, its audience is in fact diverse. Some of your listeners are living more of a digital-data lifestyle than others, and they will make up a bigger part of your PPM audience than they do of your “actual” audience. Thus, to maximize your ratings and revenue success, remember to skew your targeting more to today’s digital culture in everything you do. Strongly consider targeting these people, and their lifestyle, in your research, your advertising content, your media selection, your playlist and rotations, your talent content, your contests, events, and other promotions, and in fact your overall stationality.Â
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