Bridge Ratings: Streaming Hits Overwhelms Radio

Streaming Power

The latest post on BRIDGE RATINGS website, DAVE VAN DYKE cited reasons why "Why Radio Can't Accommodate Today's Hit Music" -- due to the growing popularity of streaming.

"After an analysis of four major radio formats (Top 40, Country, Urban, Rock) in 143 markets, it is clear that radio is not reflecting the streaming consumption patterns of its listeners, he wrote. "But when labels and/or artists drop multiple tracks within a short period of time, radio struggles to properly expose that music to keep up with the audience consumption of those songs. DRAKE, TAYLOR SWIFT, BIG SEAN, KENDRICK LAMAR, IMAGINE DRAGONS, THOMAS RHETT, and many other artists have several songs from new releases all over our streaming charts. And, radio can't manage the volume."

The solution? "Some of our clients in a variety of formats (Top 40, Country, Rock) have begun to figure this out by offering special programming that would dedicate full hours to exposing multiple tracks of only the most-streamed current releases. Audience response has been very favorable. One of our clients is trying something new: the creation of a new approach to the mechanics of exposing music formatically, increasing the number of different current songs by core artists. This new format approach may prove to be a way traditional radio can accommodate the volume of songs released by popular artists.  

"The success of this new approach is still to be determined as audience ratings are just now beginning to reflect the changes."

For details, read the entire post here.

« see more Net News