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Feb 2020 Ratings

Somebody let The Sound back into the Top 10 Club. (Albeit 6 foot social distancing and hand sanitizer at the door)
KUOW and KIRO below several music stations but I have no doubts they will be well on top when we see March's PPM, based off Coronavirus.
KIRO-AM took a big hit and it will take an even worse hit this month. I wouldn't be surprised to see sub-1's for 710, maybe 0.7.
106.1 continues to sit on the bottom on the pile with no plans to change the wasteful format.
Hey! Somebody listened to 1210 AM for once! Interesting since 102.9 is // same format, La Z.
 
The one thing I noticed is that KOMO got a big bump this month, I would expect that to go even higher this month.

Yeah, their coverage of the coronavirus issue is pretty good. They even ran the President's daily press conference when other stations had their usual programming. Kudos to them. Sometimes it's helpful to hear such things when there is a national emergency, or the next thing to it...
 
One thing is for sure, this COVID19 thing is not good for radio. Even stations that have a track record of being solid money makers, are experiencing advertisers bailing like rats off a sinking ship. The mobile listening environment has gone from typical to dead in less than two weeks.
 
One thing is for sure, this COVID19 thing is not good for radio. Even stations that have a track record of being solid money makers, are experiencing advertisers bailing like rats off a sinking ship. The mobile listening environment has gone from typical to dead in less than two weeks.

In-car listening is probably way down. When home more, most people probably watch TV instead of listening to the radio. No use advertising if listeners can't get out of the house to purchase your stuff. Tough times indeed.
 
I think that will be the case. March's ratings will reflect sadly. We could be seeing sports stations in the 0's and lower-ranked stations (KUBE, KBKS, KPLZ, etc.) in the 1's. The Sound will take a big dive I bet too, 'relaxing favorites at work' but no one except essential workers are out right now.
 
I think that will be the case. March's ratings will reflect sadly. We could be seeing sports stations in the 0's and lower-ranked stations (KUBE, KBKS, KPLZ, etc.) in the 1's. The Sound will take a big dive I bet too, 'relaxing favorites at work' but no one except essential workers are out right now.

I think stations with strong personalities will continue to hold listeners. People want to spend time with their friends, and these radio personalities are friends. Radio is the kind of medium where you can interact and still maintain social distance. In fact AQH will increase for those stations. That includes sports stations. Sports talk is a huge attraction even when there are no games. There is the NFL draft, free agency, and lots of other issues that come up. The players want to keep their visibility, so they're doing radio interviews and posting on social media.
 
I expect news-talkers KIRO, KOMO, KUOW and KNKX to go up in the ratings. Maybe even the lower-tier talk stations will see a temporary bump. Sports? I dunno. I like sports radio but don't listen anymore because there's no sports out there. The offseason topics aren't interesting enough to keep me tuned in. Music stations? They depend a lot on in-office or in-car listening, no? Perhaps KQMV will do fine since they have a loyal morning show following and tend to be very consistent ratings-wise anyways.
 
I expect news-talkers KIRO, KOMO, KUOW and KNKX to go up in the ratings. Maybe even the lower-tier talk stations will see a temporary bump. Sports? I dunno. I like sports radio but don't listen anymore because there's no sports out there. The offseason topics aren't interesting enough to keep me tuned in. Music stations? They depend a lot on in-office or in-car listening, no? Perhaps KQMV will do fine since they have a loyal morning show following and tend to be very consistent ratings-wise anyways.

TSL may increase slightly, although I doubt it. Expecting Cume to go up is delusional.
 
In-car listening is probably way down. When home more, most people probably watch TV instead of listening to the radio. No use advertising if listeners can't get out of the house to purchase your stuff. Tough times indeed.

Of course, by "TV" you mean video in general -- Netflix, Amazon's version, and cable TV movie channels. Maybe some cable news channels will see rises in ratings. But TV in general is going to be hurting. Advertisers are going to advertise what exactly, with many if not most non-grocery businesses closed? Toilet paper?
 
And lots of food products.
I don't get how car companies are still advertising on TV. They are only getting a fraction of sales. Do you really think anyone is out buying a car during a pandemic?
At least with Ford and Chevy they are doing 'we're in this together' type commercials.
 
But TV in general is going to be hurting. Advertisers are going to advertise what exactly, with many if not most non-grocery businesses closed? Toilet paper?

Local TV is scrambling to capitalize on the sudden influx of viewers over potentially a longer period of time. This past week alone, local TV news has seen a nationwide average upwards bump of 76%. And viewers are sticking around. It's strange; initially advertisers were jumping ship, while agencies,. especially those that represent autos, are seeing opportunity and jumping into the ad pool with both feet. Auto manufacturers are advertising special deferred financing periods, 0% interest rate offers, and deep sale discounts. Manufacturers figure it's better to get a jump on having more eyeballs than normal, and getting the offers out into the public before the doors slam on anyone interested in buying a new car.
 
And lots of food products.
I don't get how car companies are still advertising on TV. They are only getting a fraction of sales. Do you really think anyone is out buying a car during a pandemic?

Kelly A did a good job of explaining.

You might like to look up "share of voice" which is an advertising term that shows how a brand does in getting and keeping awareness.

If people forget about your brand because you reduce the share of voice, when recovery comes around, companies that have lost awareness will have a doubly hard job in recovering sales.

In fact, I actually talked with a dealer this week about an order for a new car to be delivered in September. I'm finding I can get a better price and get all the customization I want!
 
Understood. Get a deal on a car now, so you can grab it when the virus dies down. Probably similar to why people reserve hotels for vacations months in advance. Head to Long Beach or Westport on any summer's weekend and every motel, bedbugs or not, is full. Bet there's a lot of people who have not cancelled summer vacations because they feel that if we finally flatten the curve, the virus will slow down to the point where we can get some select attractions and places back open. Possibly with a limit on population at first. WA has a better chart than most of America right now.

If you look at this IHME chart, and choose WA state from the United States, you can see from predictions that we'll hit the peak on 4/19/20 and fall down just as long. By June the death count will be low - 2-4 each day - I think some to most things will be lifted (perhaps restaurants, libraries, etc. will return to business with a limit on visitors), and some smaller events will be able to take place; and by July the COVID-19 threat is gone - life returns to mostly normal, including concerts and large events. Let's hope...maybe with our efforts we can save summer.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections
 
Interesting that tv/radio newscasts have increased audience. Just when we were sure that traditional media was in trouble, it takes a crisis like this to remind everybody that TV and/or Radio is still the most common and best trusted form of information. Screw Facebook and Twitter, is what I read into it.
 
Interesting that tv/radio newscasts have increased audience. Just when we were sure that traditional media was in trouble, it takes a crisis like this to remind everybody that TV and/or Radio is still the most common and best trusted form of information. Screw Facebook and Twitter, is what I read into it.

Just to clarify; TV and video streaming services are definitely seeing increases from people being stuck at home. Radio, music or news, is being crushed.
 
Just to clarify; TV and video streaming services are definitely seeing increases from people being stuck at home. Radio, music or news, is being crushed.

It depends. Here's a Nielsen study on that.

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insig...dia-consumption-rises-amid-covid-19-pandemic/

The question is WHY do people listen to the radio? Is it for the music? If so, yes you're right, there are lots of other ways to get that music. Is it for certain personalities? Then the only way to get them is through the radio. And they don't have to be local personalities, although that may help. If you listen to conservative talk, and you want to hear Rush or Hannity, you will seek them out even though you have other options at home. It doesn't help that right now Rush is off the air for cancer treatment. That hurts him as a possible attraction for radio. But the concept applies to other similar heritage hosts who've worked on building a fan base.

Moving forward, if you're an on-air personality, every day is an audition with your potential fan base. And we're not just talking about boomers either. Millennials, more so than boomers, are very social people. If they feel they have a "friendship" with certain radio personalities, they will want to continue that relationship at home, perhaps for longer periods of time than when they were commuting.
 
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