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Moneyball: The Best Marketing Channels for Radio Stations
Last week we drilled into the details of contest design for the fall book that looms less than two months away. With consumers nervous about the spending power of their budgets, smaller prizes have surprisingly strong pull – and mechanics that can inject some showbiz into contesting can help support brands and deepen engagement.
This week we’re looking at the marketing channels that are most influential to the subset of the regular radio listeners among the 2,000+ Adults 18-64 in NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study 26 who are most likely to participate in ratings methodologies. They’re the people who can push your ratings up to that next tenth of a ratings point that your sales team is thirsting for to boost rates.
We asked our respondents how often they pay attention to things advertised on over two dozen different media channels, using consumer-friendly descriptions to make sure they understood what we meant (though we’ll show the media jargon in our charts here). And we’re reporting the percentages who selected one of the top two points on our scale, where the top slot meant they feel they pay attention to things advertised in that media channel “all the time.”
Among the group of 18-64s in our sample are most likely to show up in ratings samples, the top ten advertising channels are shown in the chart below, labeled “RPS Yes.”
Text messages tie with YouTube for #1 and show the tremendous power you hold if you’ve been dogged about building and maintaining station databases. Radio itself shows up in the top ten of these media focused people. And, overall, the fact that YouTube and Connected TV/OTT both outpace local TV underscore how times have changed. Ultimately, it’s about using the most cost-efficient channels or finding the most effective channels to deploy for free.
Starting with the youngest demo group in our sample, the 18-34s most likely to participate in the ratings, labeled “RPS 18-34” below, the potency of text messaging is on display – and direct mail remains effective for the portions of this demographic (who have their own mailbox). Radio remains in the top ten for these radio-connected 18-34s, but interestingly, TikTok does not.
Moving into the (often default) 25-54 demo, among those most likely to participate in the ratings (labeled “RPS 25-54”), radio ranks 7th – ahead of local TV, but among a consumer group most likely to pay attention to text messages and YouTube ads. Facebook, direct mail, and Connected TV round out the top five here. While direct mail remains an influential channel, the three P’s (postage, paper, and printing) have pushed it beyond the budgets of many.
Some feel that radio’s true target in the changing audio landscape is adults 35-64, tapping into the youngest of the Boomers. Among the group in that demographic most likely to accept an invitation into a ratings sample, radio itself rises into the top five channels. YouTube, text messages, Facebook, and Connected TV rank ahead of radio.
With the fall book less than two months away, you’re right on time if you’re already planning fall promotions. NuVoodoo’s marketing team can help get the word out to the right people for prices starting under $5K. It’s true that your station’s marketing team can buy much of the same digital inventory that we can, we’ve developed technology to make more potent use of Connected TV, enabling us to stretch station budgets. An email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com will get you a quick response.
If you’re worried about the outcome of the spring book, it’s a perfect time to review research options. NuVoodoo has library tests and tactical perceptual studies starting at $9500. At this point we can get the answers you need before the start of the fall book. An email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com will get you a quick response.
