Contests vs. Concert Announcements vs. Cuddly Animals

Comparing research respondents who predict they would empanel into a PPM-type sample versus those who predict they would not be drawn into such a panel (in the 6th NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study – the 7th is in the field now), we noted that Concert announcements and Contests ranked at the top among the PPM Likelies (PPM: Yes). As we’ve shown before, PPM Likelies listen to more radio, are more compliant and significantly more engaged with radio than their non-participating counterparts (PPM: No).

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While a quarter or more among the PPM Likelies say they’ve interacted with Concert announcements or Contests on station Facebook pages or websites, fewer than 1 in 7 among the non-participating types have interacted with any of the information types we asked about – and over 1 in 3 haven’t connected with any of them.

When the PPM Likelies are broken out into broad demos, more specific information emerges. At the younger end, 14-24’s, we see the clicks for celebrity gossip – the latest dish. A notch older, 18-34, we see consumers more habituated with radio and likely to engage with Contests, Things you heard about on the station and Concert announcements. Among the oldest ad-relevant demo, 35-54, nearly 3 in 10 haven’t engaged at all and the leading information type is the one most aligned with their use of radio as a music source: Concert announcements.

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We didn’t ask about just-played songs, lyrics of just-played songs, information about the artists performing the songs, etc. this time around – all of which drive significant traffic. For many music radio station users, stations are primarily a music utility and every piece of information that can be supplied to support that utility is a benefit to those users.

Information about the DJ’s or hosts ranked lower for all the groups, but spikes sharply higher among consumers using stations with marquee talent (and falls predictably lower among those using less foreground stations). The bottom line here is that lower-profile talent don’t attract much traffic and don’t require much real estate on the website.

In the abstract, Cuddly animals or cute babies doesn’t seem to attract much interest in these self-assessed, self-reported data. But, there are obvious exceptions – like the two minutes we wasted earlier today watching drunken people interacting with puppies. Content like that shared from other sites may generate traffic, but it won’t build your station images. Content that your station creates is another matter. And, while your station legal department may have a few thoughts on the matter, why wouldn’t you want to bring listeners in, get them tipsy and surprise them with cute animals?