Author Archive

Leigh Jacobs

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Moneyball: A Deep Dive into Country P1s

By Leigh Jacobs / August 18, 2025

With less than five weeks to go until the start of the fall book, we’re drilling down each week into findings concerning one of music radio’s top formats. Given our work with CRS in recent years, Country seems like a fine place to begin. Last week we drilled into the most widely used social media…

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Moneyball: The Most Powerful Social Channels for Radio Stations

By Leigh Jacobs / August 11, 2025

Last week we drilled into the most influential marketing channels for likely ratings participants. At or near the top of every ranking we showed were text messages – an incredibly potent tool if you’ve been dogged about building and maintaining station databases. Those text messages can alert engaged listeners to contest opportunities, special programming, airplay…

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Moneyball: The Best Marketing Channels for Radio Stations

By Leigh Jacobs / August 4, 2025

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…

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Moneyball: Station Contesting, Part II (Prize Amounts)

By Leigh Jacobs / July 28, 2025

Last week we shared data showing that contesting continues to be a tactic that punches above its weight for swaying listening and listeners. This week we’ll lean into the minutiae of designing contesting for the fall book. Data from regular radio listeners among the 2,000+ Adults 18-64 in NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study 26 shows that…

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Financial squeeze

Moneyball: Squeezing the Most from Station Contesting, Part I

By Leigh Jacobs / July 21, 2025

Last week we shared what people like about listening to radio in the car – and it’s a powerful set of factors. While music, including variety and discovery, is the dominant theme, companionship, connection, and entertainment are also key in driving in-vehicle listening. And, as we’ll try to show here, contesting continues to punch above…

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Hey, it is my favorite song on the radio!

Moneyball: What People Like About Listening to Radio in the Car

By Leigh Jacobs / July 14, 2025

Last week we shared the first installment from NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study 26 showing that, while apps like Spotify are a factor in the car, radio remains in the lead on the road with those over 25. Among those who use radio in the car at all, we also asked a couple of questions that…

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Moneyball: A New NuVoodoo Ratings Prospect Study

By Leigh Jacobs / July 7, 2025

Just ahead of the holiday weekend we finished fielding on NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study 26. Two thousand adults 18-64 nationwide are included in the sample with the goal of helping programmers and managers make the best decisions possible as they head into the fall ratings that are about ten weeks away. We smiled at the…

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Moneyball: “Stationality” or Personality

By Leigh Jacobs / June 30, 2025

The decline in trust for mass media institutions is a well-documented phenomenon. A 2024 Gallup poll, for instance, revealed that the percentage of Americans with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the mass media has plummeted to 36%, down from 68% in 1972. This growing skepticism towards large, faceless media entities has…

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Moneyball: What Radio Can Borrow from Budweiser

By Leigh Jacobs / June 23, 2025

Budweiser’s Grand Prix win for Audio and Radio at the Cannes Lions Festival highlighted just how impactful a simple yet creative idea can be. As Ad Age said, “It takes only a second for music fans to identify their favorite song when they hear it. Behind this insight, Budweiser played the role of a high-speed…

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Moneyball: Radio’s Role for Music Discovery

By Leigh Jacobs / June 16, 2025

With the deep history between radio and music, many of us recall a time when radio was the top of the heap when for music discovery. To understand where things stand today, we first need to determine who’s interested in new music. Across a sample of over 2,900 people nationwide, 57% give a very high…

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