Can you get ratings without marketing?

[CCX]

I'd be interested in getting ideas from the collective wisdom and experience on this board. Is it possible to get ratings without advertising on TV or Billboards? I'm well aware of the benefits of TSL and how it can convert your cume to AQH, but will enough people just "find" you to effect the cume? The Clear Channel stations haven't run any TV in years as far as I know, but they have "heritage" stations. The change of WGBT to Hispanic spread word like wildfire, and of course they got press because of it being the first hispanic FM. They also got lots of press over the change of WFMX and raised the curiosity of the Triad. But, outside of launching a whole new identity, do you think it's possible to improve your cume by just "tweaking" the station or making minor format changes? Any other ideas about how to improve cume would be appreciated. I'm curious.

 

[chchcharlie]

I'd be interested in getting ideas from the collective wisdom and experience on this board. Is it possible to get ratings without advertising on TV or Billboards? I'm well aware of the benefits of TSL and how it can convert your cume to AQH, but will enough people just "find" you to effect the cume? The Clear Channel stations haven't run any TV in years as far as I know, but they have "heritage" stations. The change of WGBT to Hispanic spread word like wildfire, and of course they got press because of it being the first hispanic FM. They also got lots of press over the change of WFMX and raised the curiosity of the Triad. But, outside of launching a whole new identity, do you think it's possible to improve your cume by just "tweaking" the station or making minor format changes? Any other ideas about how to improve cume would be appreciated. I'm curious.

The short answer to your question is yes, it is possible to get ratings without outside advertising. The first thing you have to have is a good product. But what is a good product?

In radio, a good product is not only a well produced format, but it is also a format that people want to listen to. You can have the most professional sounding polka station in the world, but if people don't want to hear polka on the radio then it doesn't matter how good of a job you do or how much you advertise it.

If you have a good product as defined above, then you can increase your cume just by word of mouth and being very visible in the market by having an extremely active promotions department. Most people forget that an active promotions department is a form of outside marketing. Your station should be outside in the community meeting people one on one every week if not every day. It's a slow process to build cume this way, but it works over the long term IF you have a good product.

Then if you can afford to advertise on billboards and TV, the process gets sped up. But again, it only works if you have good product as defined above.

 

[slogan]

I've always been puzzled why companies don't advertise their stations...they're salepeople spend all their time telling business people they should advertise....if these public companies weren't trying to beat Walmart at the "who can spend the least on our people" game maybe they would have better stations. Corporate radio is killing, what used to be a fabulous medium and a true people oriented business. Can Angie Ward voice track 12 stations?

 

[XTalker]

What a great question. It has been addressed as part of several threads on this board and the previous posts here have some great points.

Ratings are derived from two numbers - cume (number of unduplicated people who listen for at least 15 minutes in a week) and the number of quarter hours they spend with the station (time spent listening).

You can achieve an increase in ratings two ways - by adding new cume and getting then to listen longer - and you need to do some of both. Growing TSL will not help if the cume is declining! A growing cume is not much good if they just sample and go away!

You can build cume without TV or other outside advertising - but is a slow build. Some suggest the "one listener at a time" concept develops a more loyal audience, but most owners don't have the patience. That's why all but the most successful stations change format so often.

Even the heritage station needs to work at building cume. Listeners come and go - they move, they die, their tastes change. You should always look for new listeners.

The real question is "What is the best cume building method of marketing?" It may not be television. You have to also consider the effeciency - cost per new listener. Is direct mail to targeted zips more effective?

 

[CCX]

XTalker - A correction - Cume is the number of different people who listen for five (5) minutes or more during the given daypart, not 15 minutes. Also, TSL is critical. You can actually have a decline in cume and an increase in TSL and maintain your ratings. As for what is the best cume building vehicle, targeted direct mail might be pretty good, but I think for radio stations that billboards are the best. I guess it's relative, however, when you consider the cost involved. I think TV is too costly and too fragmented to be an efficient cume builder.

I agree 100% with the post about station owners not marketing. Salespeople are out all day telling advertisers to market their businesses. It seems so hypocritical for station owners to not do the same! Either you believe in advertising or you dont! Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

 

[XTalker]

Five minutes listening equals 15 in the eyes of Arbitron! Listen for five minutes of any quarter and get credit for the quarter.

 

[CCX]

Correct, that would be AQH. Cume, however, is not measured by the quarter hour. That's where the TSL comes in. Longer TSL converts the cume to AQH.

 

[XTalker]

You missed my point. You get credit for one person in the cume by their listening for five minutes of a quarter hour. It is then reported as one quarter hour. If you don't get five minutes, you get nothing. And, the five minutes must be in the SAME quarter hour!