J
JohnRadioFan
Guest
Here is an excerpt from a recent NYC Daily News article from entertainment staff writer, David Hinkley that talks to an opinion most in the industry seem to follow:
“If you wonder why radio formats like oldies and adult standards disappear even though they have large numbers of listeners, the main reason is simple. Radio owners measure success less by listenership than by ad revenue, and if a big audience doesn't translate to big ad dollars, the format may be expendable.
That harsh truth is reflected in a new national survey by Miller Kaplan (MK) on radio's 2005 "Power Ratios" - how various formats convert listeners into ad dollars. A "power ratio" of 1.0 means a format breaks even. It has, say, 5% of the audience and makes 5% of the revenue.
Below a 1.0 is not good. Adult standards, for instance, have 2.45% of the audience in the MK survey, but only 1.08% of the ad dollars, for a dismal "power ratio" of 0.44.
In other words, a station programming adult standards might well see a chance to make more money somewhere else. Also doing very well are adult contemporary stations, with a 1.44 "power ratio"; classic rock, with a 1.50; hot adult contemporary, with a 1.78; '80s oldies, with a 1.50; rock, with a 1.52, and sports, with a 1.44. Doing less well are oldies, with a 0.97 "power ratio" that's been slipping the last few years.”
Bringing this closer to home, when someone on this board indicated Renda Broadcasting spent some $7M to purchase WSOS, I have to wonder if they will be able to overcome some very difficult odds. In the example above, the adult standards station used had a 2.45% share of audience. Currently, WSOS is struggling to even appear in Arbitron. From an advertising perspective, their new property is not very attracting. And given a lot of real old music played and appeal to an older demo, I continue to wonder what plan exists to become successful . The biggest dilemma was Renda had to ensure that WSOS did not in any way compete directly with it’s’ most successful Jax station, WEJZ.
But now to muddy this even more, there are a number of research studies taking place that are indicating that older demos-baby boomers, for example, should not be discounted from an ad perspective. There is the long-held belief that older demos rarely change brand loyalty. But baby boomer expert Ken Dychtwald and his Age Wave research company says boomers are, in fact, more open to new things such as new cell phone technology, Internet shopping, and other products. Aiding to their appeal is the fact that baby boomers have more money than any other group. Below is a website you may want to check out where you can check out research and where people can go when they want to reach out to an older audience.
http://www.thematuremarket.com
So to sum up, the advertising game is played in a 25-54 world, but there are exceptions. And it takes a lot to overcome tough odds. Perception accounts for a lot. A few weeks ago I talked about Miami oldies station, WMXJ, and how they seem to be holding their own from an ad perspective. Interesting to note that if you look at Arbitron, they are listed as a classic hits station. They are still more like a traditional oldies station than what we have in WKQL. But what they did was clever, in my opinion. For those national ads, they may get more of the piece of the pie by calling themselves classic hits than oldies. WKQL should consider changing their format description for Arbitron – even to that Top 40 classic hits they seem to use. It may help them even more. I wonder too if the next logical step for them would be to merge WSOS and WKQL into a 60s/70s pop music station. Something to think about. And imagine the possibilities creative/targeted programming could achieve.
“If you wonder why radio formats like oldies and adult standards disappear even though they have large numbers of listeners, the main reason is simple. Radio owners measure success less by listenership than by ad revenue, and if a big audience doesn't translate to big ad dollars, the format may be expendable.
That harsh truth is reflected in a new national survey by Miller Kaplan (MK) on radio's 2005 "Power Ratios" - how various formats convert listeners into ad dollars. A "power ratio" of 1.0 means a format breaks even. It has, say, 5% of the audience and makes 5% of the revenue.
Below a 1.0 is not good. Adult standards, for instance, have 2.45% of the audience in the MK survey, but only 1.08% of the ad dollars, for a dismal "power ratio" of 0.44.
In other words, a station programming adult standards might well see a chance to make more money somewhere else. Also doing very well are adult contemporary stations, with a 1.44 "power ratio"; classic rock, with a 1.50; hot adult contemporary, with a 1.78; '80s oldies, with a 1.50; rock, with a 1.52, and sports, with a 1.44. Doing less well are oldies, with a 0.97 "power ratio" that's been slipping the last few years.”
Bringing this closer to home, when someone on this board indicated Renda Broadcasting spent some $7M to purchase WSOS, I have to wonder if they will be able to overcome some very difficult odds. In the example above, the adult standards station used had a 2.45% share of audience. Currently, WSOS is struggling to even appear in Arbitron. From an advertising perspective, their new property is not very attracting. And given a lot of real old music played and appeal to an older demo, I continue to wonder what plan exists to become successful . The biggest dilemma was Renda had to ensure that WSOS did not in any way compete directly with it’s’ most successful Jax station, WEJZ.
But now to muddy this even more, there are a number of research studies taking place that are indicating that older demos-baby boomers, for example, should not be discounted from an ad perspective. There is the long-held belief that older demos rarely change brand loyalty. But baby boomer expert Ken Dychtwald and his Age Wave research company says boomers are, in fact, more open to new things such as new cell phone technology, Internet shopping, and other products. Aiding to their appeal is the fact that baby boomers have more money than any other group. Below is a website you may want to check out where you can check out research and where people can go when they want to reach out to an older audience.
http://www.thematuremarket.com
So to sum up, the advertising game is played in a 25-54 world, but there are exceptions. And it takes a lot to overcome tough odds. Perception accounts for a lot. A few weeks ago I talked about Miami oldies station, WMXJ, and how they seem to be holding their own from an ad perspective. Interesting to note that if you look at Arbitron, they are listed as a classic hits station. They are still more like a traditional oldies station than what we have in WKQL. But what they did was clever, in my opinion. For those national ads, they may get more of the piece of the pie by calling themselves classic hits than oldies. WKQL should consider changing their format description for Arbitron – even to that Top 40 classic hits they seem to use. It may help them even more. I wonder too if the next logical step for them would be to merge WSOS and WKQL into a 60s/70s pop music station. Something to think about. And imagine the possibilities creative/targeted programming could achieve.