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Targeting the PPM People: How Are They Different? Part 17: Solving The Mystery of Why They Are More Into Radio
August 13, 2012
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Over the course of this series, we have been pointing out that PPM Prospects tend to be more into radio, and particularly more into personalities and valuable content, than Non-prospects. Two weeks ago, we began looking at just what motivates a consumer to say "Yes" to the PPM. Naturally, we led with the absolutely shocking finding that about nine in ten PPM Prospects say their decision to participate would be influenced by the cash payment from Arbitron. We also reported that one in three said they were motivated by something else: the chance to have their voice heard by all of us powerful media magnates. Now, either this is a real motivation, thus applying to a definable subgroup, or it's just a "good answer on the test." If we are correct and it is indeed the former, we would expect to see a clear difference in some behaviors between a "Hear Me!" PPM Prospect and a "Show Me The Money!" PPM Prospect. In particular, we hope they can help us explain the big mystery: Let's say we're wrong and over-analytical here, and that when you get down to it, what makes some folks say "yes" and others "no" is simply all about who wants the money. If that is so, how can it be that those who say "yes" also on average happen to be more into radio than others, of the same demo and income level, who choose to say "no"? Could it be because an independent second key motivator is also at work?
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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 seventeenth 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
Over the course of this series, we have been pointing out that PPM Prospects tend to be more into radio, and particularly more into personalities and valuable content, than Non-prospects. Two weeks ago, we began looking at just what motivates a consumer to say “Yes” to the PPM. Naturally, we led with the absolutely shocking finding that about nine in ten PPM Prospects say their decision to participate would be influenced by the cash payment from Arbitron. We also reported that one in three said they were motivated by something else: the chance to have their voice heard by all of us powerful media magnates. Now, either this is a real motivation, thus applying to a definable subgroup, or it’s just a “good answer on the test.”  If we are correct and it is indeed the former, we would expect to see a clear difference in some behaviors between a “Hear Me!” PPM Prospect and a “Show Me The Money!” PPM Prospect.  In particular, we hope they can help us explain the big mystery: Let’s say we’re wrong and over-analytical here, and that when you get down to it, what makes some folks say “yes” and others “no” is simply all about who wants the money. If that is so, how can it be that those who say “yes” also on average happen to be more into radio than others, of the same demo and income level, who choose to say “no”? Could it be because an independent second key motivator is also at work?Â
So this week, we will test that hypothesis and tie it all together. As we will see, those PPM Prospects who are not interested in being heard, but are just in it for the money, are invariably less into radio than those who want their voice heard, and in fact sometimes even less into Radio than Non-prospects. But without question, across the board, the Prospects who cite “want your voice to be heard by media companies” are consistently Radio’s best relationship customers. Â
“Hear Me!” PPM Prospects Much More Likely To Have A Favorite Music StationÂ
Well, how about that?  PPM Prospects are more likely than Non-prospects to have an FM music station they consider their favorite, and this is due solely to votes of the “Hear Me” crowd. The remainder of the PPM Prospects look just like the Non-prospects, with about one in four saying they have no such station attachment. Meanwhile, only one in eight of the “Hear Me” Prospects have no favorite. As we see here, and will see repeated on the two charts below, it’s this simple: wanting to be heard correlates with being more involved and engaged. So, people who want their voice heard by the media, who account for about one-third of meter wearers, tend also to be people who are engaged in hearing the voice of the media.Â
“Hear Me!” PPM Prospects Are Much More Likely To Listen To AM
Try this experiment at home. Take two groups of people. Group A is interested in having their voice heard. Group B couldn’t care less about that. Let’s take a wild guess at which group is more likely to cume AM Radio? In fact, were it merely about who most desperately needs the money, and were it not for the “Hear Me” prospects, AM listenership might even be underestimated by Arbitron. This group, again showing as Radio’s best customers, are ten percentage points ahead of the Non-Prospects, and fifteen points ahead of other PPM Prospects, in use of the AM Band.
“Hear Me!” PPM Prospects Much More Likely To Have A Favorite Morning Show
Now, on morning show partisanship, unlike the two previous charts, we do see that the Non-Prospects are far less passionate than both kinds of PPM Prospects. Once again, however, the “Hear Me” gang is the single most attached.
What this means to you
This stuff is huge. Wherever you are, whatever your demos, whatever your format, whatever other images you have, you can use this to your advantage. When you know that maybe one-third of the meters belong to Radio’s best customers who just also happen to be people who want to be heard, the implication is easy to grasp and easy to plan and implement. It’s this simple: You would do well to maximize your appeal to people who want to be heard. In an age of extremely interactive, and user-driven, and micro-targeted, personal media, we are limited by our mass-product technology. So we will never win, and are not trying to win, that perfectly-user-directed position, if seen amongst all media. Nevertheless, imagine the considerable advantage to a station that can outmaneuver a format competitor by taking the valuable position of the station where the listener is actually listened to. Winning that image is not about sloganeering. But a concerted programming and overall marketing strategy that successfully attracts the listener who wants to be listened to could turn out to be your secret weapon.
Next Week: What Does It All Mean? More Important, What’s In It For Me? (Part One)
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