The Fan's problem...

[gspitslive]

DH would have told you it added a million to his cume if he thought you would believe it. Trust, but verify.

 

[little1]

that's hard to believe (Cowboys effect) I thought D Henry told me one time that a big Cowboys game last year added 250k cume to their week.

Know how to tell if a sales guy is lying to you? See if his lips move.

And look at what the Rangers are doing for the Fan right now. Their night ratings are huge. People are tuning in for baseball. But that's not really equating to increased ratings anywhere else on the station. They're flat, at best.

And baseball is a 5,6,7 night a week sport.
I've been told by a Cumulus employee that that is why they dropped the Cowboys- Jerry wanted to much money, and they were getting NOTHING out of it. Very little revenue, no increase in ratings, etc...

 

[Richard Pryor]

It doesn't matter that the stat isn't relevant in a PPM world, the Fan will still be around as long as they have more listeners than the Ticket which they do.

 

[little1]

the Fan will still be around as long as they have more listeners than the Ticket which they do.

Not if they can't monetize those listeners. So they can draw an audience, but can't keep them around, as they find other stations more interesting.

If I'm an advertiser (or more importantly an ad agency, since that's where the bulk of money in radio sales is) I see that I'd be better off spending my money on the stations where those listeners are spending more time.

Last I looked, KRLD-FM was around 20th IN THE SPORTSTALK TARGET DEMO. (Men 25-54). I don't know how long they can continue to lag so far back in their target demo, higher cume or not.

 

[gspitslive]

That is NOT correct. To say "The Fan will be around as long as they have more listeners than the Ticket" is flat wrong. It is about revenue. A few things to consider:

The Ticket makes more money than The Fan, MUCH more. And they are more profitable because they do not have huge licensing fees. Talk is an expensive format, far more expensive than music which means you need to generate more revenue off the listeners you have. Sports are expensive due to the licensing fees and the cost to entertain clients that expect access to the games they are investing in. When that dessert cart rolls around the suite levels of the AA Center, it ain't cheap.

All that being said, there is no guarantee that The Fan will be around for long. Purdy is not known for his commitments to people or his ability to correctly place talent. He did a good thing by booting Bigby, but he brought Bigby in there in the first place. Gilbert is skilled but he has an uphill battle in front of him. He has big salaries and licensing fees. Big P&Ls mean you need to generate cash flow.... That is non existent right now. In that reality, The Fan is not long for DFW. My guess is that Gilbert has 6 months to turn it, and that will NOT happen on sports numbers alone.

 

[Old Jack]

If I'm an advertiser (or more importantly an ad agency, since that's where the bulk of money in radio sales is) I see that I'd be better off spending my money on the stations where those listeners are spending more time.

As a rabid radio fan and a member of a non-profit group which occasionally advertises on radio, I could not agree more.

When we buy spots, we want to know that the listeners of the station in question match our target demo for a given campaign and that they are loyal to that station in the hopes that such loyalty will spill over to us. We refuse to waste money on a station with a drive-by audience.

 

[MarkW]

It doesn't matter that the stat isn't relevant in a PPM world, the Fan will still be around as long as they have more listeners than the Ticket which they do.

If that's the case, it's because CBS believes there's an upside and potential to recycle that cume into other, more profitable dayparts -- which at this point, they have failed miserably at doing.

If you look at AQH listeners (basically, cume's cousin) and AQH share from 6a - 7p, the Ticket leads The Fan by a massive margin.

If The Fan's talk line up does not start to perform better within a year or two, I suspect Newsradio 1080 will relocate to / simulcast on 105.3 FM, and the live play-by-play (to the extent contracts remain) will stay in place.

 

[jeffdfw]

If The Fan's talk line up does not start to perform better within a year or two, I suspect Newsradio 1080 will relocate to / simulcast on 105.3 FM, and the live play-by-play (to the extent contracts remain) will stay in place.

Wow. THAT makes complete sense and has the potential to be a ratings winner! Unlike The Fan Fail...