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Targeting the PPM People: How Are They Different? (Part 11: Trusting Us to Provide Info -> Trusting Us to Receive Info!)
June 25, 2012
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. The station that attracts an audience who trusts it for information, whether basic services or Nashville trash talk, will outperform in Arbitron, simply because those listeners will be more likely to cooperate with Arbitron!
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To succeed today, stations must maximize their appeal to those who control that success: those who wear a PPM. And, no matter what Arbitron says, 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 eleventh 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 do something are always greater than the percentages who will in fact do so.Â
Two weeks ago, we began discussing how PPM Prospects are atypical in their feelings about radio stations. We have shown that, although almost half the population are not “partisans” to a particular music station, a music-station-partisan is much more likely to say “yes” to the PPM. And that among those who are partisans, those who truly love a station are by far the most likely to say yes. Â
This week, we explore the concept of trusting radio as an information source. We were particularly curious to see how PPM Prospects feel about this, because trust is a central issue in the decision to accept The Device. Before she will agree to allow electronic snooping into her and her family’s private personal space, the snoopee must trust the snooper. But trusting any media, not just radio, today is hardly a given. Now, to nobody’s surprise, it turns out that not all listeners trust the radio industry to provide them with info about the rest of the world. But it also turns out that the more they do, the more willing they are, in turn, to provide the radio industry with info about themselves.
Naturally, Some Listeners Trust Radio News Completely, While Others Don’t
As we see above, more than 40% of the audience rates their trust of radio news a “5” or a “6” on a 6-point scale. Meanwhile, fewer than 10% give us only a “1” or a “2,” and almost half of the audience is in the middle, at a “3” or a “4.” Pretty consistent across the demos, with slightly higher trust, not surprisingly, among Women and 35+. Perhaps not as high as we’d ideally like, nonetheless a lot higher than industry detractors would have you believe. And, in these days of skeptical and highly opinionated news consumers, probably a lot higher than some other media .
And The Higher That Trust, The More Likely They Are To Carry A Meter
So here’s a clear correlation between trusting radio as information provider and trusting radio as information receiver. People who trust our news a lot say yes to the PPM much more often than they say no, while people who trust our news very little are almost evenly divided on taking a PPM. (This chart, and similar charts we have been showing during this series, should not be taken to suggest that over half the population would take a PPM if asked. Far from it. Remember the two factors we pointed out in our introduction. First, about 70% of the population will avoid any research, including both this survey and an inquiry from Arbitron, and thus are automatically “no”s. And second, many more people will agree in theory to do something than will actually do it in practice.)
Talent-Provided Music Info Adds Value for Some Listeners More Than Others
Not everyone values and uses their music station as an information source about the music, but many do. Of course, listeners who do are less likely to crawl into their iPods, and thus are probably safer bets as permanently heavy consumers of music radio. For that reason alone, it would make sense for many stations to pursue these folks in the long run. Now, here’s another, maybe even more compelling, reason to pursue them today:
The More They Value Music Info, The More Likely They Are To Carry A Meter
This chart is even more dramatic than the one we showed about trusting your news station. Those who want, use, and trust our talent for music info the most say yes to the PPM question twice as often as they say no. Meanwhile, listeners who don’t value that content are evenly split. Just as with our finding about news trust, the bottom line is clear as day. And it makes complete sense, as it would in any relationship: Trusting us for information begets trusting us with information.
What this means to you
Together with our findings about partisanship and bonding, these findings are exciting for radio stations that make themselves into more than disposable commodities. The station that attracts an audience who trusts it for information, whether basic services or Nashville trash talk, will outperform in Arbitron, simply because those listeners will be more likely to cooperate with Arbitron! Not every station in every format can do this, but when you can, make the choice to pursue the listener who does want us to be a source of information. Of course, no matter how well we deliver info, it falls on deaf ears for listeners who don’t want to be informed. Real trust is an emotion, and it involves vulnerability. It cannot be established quickly, and is certainly not accomplished merely by our relentless liners, sounding like a smooth operator pickup artist, promising the audience that they can trust us. It is far more important to keep that promise on a constant basis. Provide the info-consumer, every time she tunes in, with the info she values, whether it is the economy, the traffic, or the Lady Gaga gossip. When we do keep that promise on a constant basis, promos and liners of course will help seal the deal, by underlining and post-promote where we indeed have provided needed, valued, and trusted information, when she wanted it. It’s as simple as this: if they trust us, they will trust us.
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