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The Spirit of Radio
June 16, 2014
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. We've shown before that those who predict they'd accept a meter for themselves and their family tilt downscale in terms of household income. It makes perfect sense: the stipend and other rewards they get for participating simply have a greater impact among those who have less money coming into their households. Take it out of the media realm and think about it in your own life. Would you involve yourself and your family in a program in which, during waking hours, you have to wear a pager-sized device that tracks, say, the kinds of soft drinks you consume - or the condiments you use on sandwiches? And, of course, you need to put your device in a docking station at night. And remind others in your household to do the same. All for a few dollars per person per week?
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We’ve shown before that those who predict they’d accept a meter for themselves and their family tilt downscale in terms of household income. It makes perfect sense: the stipend and other rewards they get for participating simply have a greater impact among those who have less money coming into their households.Â
Take it out of the media realm and think about it in your own life. Would you involve yourself and your family in a program in which, during waking hours, you have to wear a pager-sized device that tracks, say, the kinds of soft drinks you consume – or the condiments you use on sandwiches? And, of course, you need to put your device in a docking station at night. And remind others in your household to do the same. All for a few dollars per person per week?Â
So, among the 18-54 year-old adults in our national studies this year, what’s the income profile look like for the consumers spending time with online music services? And, how does that compare to consumers spending time with terrestrial radio?Â
Setting a threshold of at least an hour a day, shows regular Social Media usage following the same contour as predicted ratings’ participants. It also shows usage of online music services following that same contour – while terrestrial tilts the other way.Â
As the online music services start increasing their commercial loads or more aggressively trying to convert consumers to paid models, we may see some lower (often younger) earners pull away from online sources. But that’s not a certainty. Some will choose to “hide” subscriptions as add-ons to their cellphone bills, so they don’t think about it. Some will replace their satellite subscription. And, let’s face it, we’re a long way from online commercial loads getting anywhere close to those on terrestrial.Â
What can you do about it? You can make sure your promotional efforts are concentrated where the likely ratings’ respondents are. You can make sure your social media strategy and execution is well crafted – and well executed. You can make sure the online version(s) of your station(s) sound good (terrestrial commercial loads are bad enough, but the content that covers those breaks on many online portals is unlistenable).Â
Most of all, you can engage your listeners to find out what they like about your station(s) other than the music you play – and make sure you’re delivering that content regularly. In competition with online services, the human element is usually among our strongest cards. Simply having a human who tells them about the songs, would keep them apprised if something calamitous happened, explains contests and station events in a relatable way, and connects with them emotionally has a high value for many terrestrial users.Â
Geddy Lee sang of “Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength, bearing a gift beyond price, almost free.”Â
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