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What's on your website?
May 26, 2014
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. How often should we expect our best listeners to visit our website? Is weekly a reasonable expectation? In the 2014 NuVoodoo Ratings Prospect Study we asked "when was the last time you visited a radio station website?" Among the total sample, one third said they'd been to a radio station website in the past week. As an average, that didn't seem terrible. We expected we'd see higher numbers when we looked at respondents who were P1 to spoken word stations (and more exclusive content to share with listeners) or music formats that attract large numbers of web-savvy younger consumers.
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How often should we expect our best listeners to visit our website? Is weekly a reasonable expectation? In the 2014 NuVoodoo Ratings Prospect Study we asked “when was the last time you visited a radio station website?”Â
Among the total sample, one third said they’d been to a radio station website in the past week. As an average, that didn’t seem terrible. We expected we’d see higher numbers when we looked at respondents who were P1 to spoken word stations (and more exclusive content to share with listeners) or music formats that attract large numbers of web-savvy younger consumers.Â
But, the numbers among nearly all music format P1’s fell short of the average across the sample. In fact, the numbers for most of the younger-targeted formats fell below the average. And only one music format exceeded the average in the sample: Classic Rock/Classic Hits.Â
Why would Classic Rock/Classic Hits P1’s be more likely to visit a station website? While there are many factors to be sure, one is that it’s a format where the demographics of the top decision makers tend to line up with the demographics of the audience. We saw similar results when we had the opportunity to test between-the-music content (promos, etc.) for a wide swath of formats. The best results were observed in Classic Rock – the format where the demographics of the audience and the decision makers are best aligned.
We research music to make sure our understanding of which songs are hits and which songs are misses, but we generally rely on instinct or experience to guide us on content, promotion and packaging. While we can use metrics to guide us on web content, the metrics only reflect the relative traffic for what’s on the site and are in part shaped by what web content is promoted on the air.Â
Radio faces increasing competition from new media and owners and senior managers are becoming relentlessly focused on generating rating and not share. It seems to us that stations need to research both web content and between-the-music content. [Disclaimer: Yes, NuVoodoo sells research.] With the stakes so very high, isn’t what happens on your station when the music ends as important as the music itself? With web traffic such a high priority, is instinct the best tool available?Â
These need not be expensive, stand-alone studies. These are questions that could be included with the music testing you’re probably doing already – a few questions at a time with weekly current-music testing or a bunch of questions in a library test.Â
Here’s to longer spans, increased occasions, more uniques and better metrics for all!
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