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Targeting the PPM People: How Are They Different? - Part 14: Believing in Us and What We Do For Them
July 23, 2012
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. A consumer who feels served by radio is of course going to feel more engaged as well as more efficacious, as in believing that radio listens to its consumer. Thus, we are not surprised that listeners who feel well-served by the radio industry (i.e. feel like targeted active consumers) are more willing to participate, and will be over-represented, in the radio industry measurement process.
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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. What Arbitron doesn’t want us to know is that in fact, smart broadcasters can maximize investment in, and thus maximize return on, the PPM Prospect type of listeners. This is the fourteenth 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
Several weeks ago, we began discussing how PPM Prospects are atypical in their feelings about radio stations.  We have shown that willingness to wear a PPM is higher among those (slightly more than half the population), who actually have a favorite music station and listen at least one quarter-hour a day (link to part 9), is higher still if they truly love that station (link to part 10), is higher among listeners who value Radio as an information source (link to part 11), and that it is higher among those who actually have a favorite morning show (link to part 12), that is not mostly music (link to part 13) and attracts them for the benefit of companionship ahead of information or other benefits. This week we look at how much may depend on a consumer’s belief that radio stations indeed are sincere in their commitment to the listener and indeed serve the listener well.
If Radio Does A Good Job of Serving Them, They Are Likelier to Return Service
A consumer who feels served by radio is of course going to feel more engaged as well as more efficacious, as in believing that radio listens to its consumer. Thus, we are not surprised that listeners who feel well-served by the radio industry (i.e. feel like targeted active consumers) are more willing to participate, and will be over-represented, in the radio industry measurement process. Now, about a two-thirds majority of this national research-friendly sample says radio stations do a good job providing high-quality programming targeted at them and folks like them. But obviously, we’d love to have 100%, not 65%, of an Arbitron sample be comprised of respondents who feel served by radio. Well, the great news is: it’s going to be significantly higher than 65%. The chart above tells the story: The folks who do not feel targeted and served are, quite simply, much less likely to say yes. The green and red bars on the left, representing these skeptics, are virtually equal on the theoretical question of a PPM. Meanwhile, the bars on the right represent the 65%, the consumers who feel stations do a good job with quality targeted programming. And these folks said “Yes†nearly twice as much as they said “No.â€Â So they will make up a lot more than 65% of the PPM base.
If They Consider Stations Self-Centered / Self-Obsessed, They Cooperate Less
Consumer cynicism toward the media is of course at an all-time high, and Radio is no exception. In our national study of 1000 18-49’s across all regions and market ranks, only half the sample could bring themselves to disagree with the statement that stations “talk mostly about things they are doing, and don’t really care about you.† Now to be sure, plenty of consumers, even while not disagreeing with that statement, nevertheless do appreciate and value stations for real benefits. But, as in any relationship, it’s a whole lot harder for us to feel really good about the thing, whatever we get out of it, when we think the other party is self-centered and doesn’t care about us. Now take a look at the chart above. Again, we are not exactly surprised to see the data: people who feel good about what is inside radio stations’ hearts will be significantly over-represented in the Arbitron pool. They say yes to the hypothetical PPM question by nearly 2:1. Meanwhile, those who do think of us as self-centered say yes over no by only about ten points.
What this means to you
Throughout this series, we keep seeing that radio/listener engagement can pay off big-time, because the engaged listener will be over-represented in Arbitron. This week’s finding underlines that point, and also gives us food for thought in marketing. How our listener feels, both about station motives and about the quality and targeting of air products, really matters a lot. The more of our audience feel good about radio stations, the more say yes, the more we can land in MeterLand, the higher our ratings will be. All quarter hours are not measured equally in the PPM Era. A quarter hour from a listener who feels good about Radio counts for a lot more. A quarter hour, same station, same time, same demo, from a listener who doesn’t feel as good about Radio counts for a lot less. It turns out that we can help ourselves a lot by thinking of the “feel good about radio†consumer as a type, a target, and our new best friend. Our Arbitron numbers will go up if we can correctly identify, target, serve, and perform with, the kinds of consumers who feel the best about their relationship with Radio, the personality and lifestyle types that line up with this consumer, and the benefits care most about.  Â
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