by Angela Haarhoff (@ANGtheHOFF) When many of us think about ‘community radio’, we envisage an informal setup in Uncle Pete’s garage, complete with chickens on the roof and illegal electrical connections hanging from the ceiling.
It’s pretty safe to say that we have never seen inside a community station nor listened to one. Therefore, allocating our advertising money to them seems a little scary and unfamiliar. Right? Sure.
Undergoing a change
This has been relatively commonplace due to a general lack of knowledge around such stations, driven by barriers in language, cultural understanding and accessibility.
Our radio landscape is, however, undergoing a change, and community radio stations are stepping up to take more of the limelight. It’s an important trend to note and, as listeners demand more personalised content, these stations are becoming ever more relevant.
Listeners are seeking less mass-targeted media and responding to advertising which adds value to their lives, be it through entertainment or useful information.
Advertising spend on community radio stations
Granted, tracking adspend across community stations can be, and is, challenging but Nielsen data gives us an indication, nonetheless. The January-August figures reflect an amount of over R78m having been spent, equaling 2% of total radio investment (R3.8bn).
Top-spending categories show no surprises, with government, education and health, as well as retail, being responsible for most of the activity. Following these is financial services.
If we break this down by looking at Minor Product category, we see a clearer picture of exact spend. Cellular networks and products see around 9% of overall spend on these stations. Provincial government and food stores both see 7%, while building supplies, natural and alternative medicines also fall into the top 10.
| Top 10 Minor Product Categories | Spend Jan-Aug 2014 (Rm) | % of Community Radio Spend | |
| 1 | Cellular networks & products | 6 753 618 | 8.6 |
| 2 | Provincial government | 5 529 173 | 7.0 |
| 3 | Food stores supers & hypers | 5 528 196 | 7.0 |
| 4 | Building supplies | 4 825 329 | 6.1 |
| 5 | Political parties | 3 525 146 | 4.5 |
| 6 | Natural & alternative medication | 3 128 215 | 4.0 |
| 7 | Brand | 2 754 808 | 3.5 |
| 8 | Specialised training centres | 2 706 578 | 3.4 |
| 9 | Funeral plans | 2 502 429 | 3.2 |
| 10 | Local government | 2 208 773 | 2.8 |
These categories reflect the micro-targeting ability of radio to reach specific areas with specific messages and offers.
In terms of top-spending advertisers on community stations, Nedbank has made good effort to target markets in its immediate environment, as have Vodacom, MTN and Shoprite.
| Top 10 Community Advertisers | Spend Jan-Aug 2014 (Rm) | |
| 1 | Nedbank | 4 986 561 |
| 2 | Cashbuild Ltd | 4 815 833 |
| 3 | Government W Cape | 4 188 827 |
| 4 | Vodacom Communication | 4 127 801 |
| 5 | Shoprite Holdings Ltd | 3 586 825 |
| 6 | Government Gauteng | 3 308 819 |
| 7 | Mobile telephone network | 2 700 894 |
| 8 | Mondli Herbal Products | 2 664 461 |
| 9 | Pearson Education SA | 2 614 731 |
| 10 | AVBOB Mutual Ass Soc | 2 497 619 |
The ROI formula
Radio is known to be one of the more effective ROI mediums, and studies done by Nielsen and RAB in the UK support this. Why then is much of the radio advertising we hear not yielding the desired effect?
Purely because of the very careful balance of impactful creative execution, effective media placement and the actual message or offer at hand.
If the strategy has been carefully and seamlessly planned, these factors should result in a winning formula.
Supported by strategic reasons for using radio, marketers of the Noughties also need to consider that listeners have changed and old-school radio rules may not apply to their more sophisticated habits — content should be entertaining or useful and, most of all, relevant in order to spark a response.
The future of community stations
If we think back then to Uncle Pete’s garage, it’s perhaps time to get our hands dirty by immersing ourselves further into this medium, gaining a better insight into its strengths and opportunities.
Community stations go beyond rural or township setups, although this is where the true groundwork has been done. As radio fragments, top-end community stations are being born, again offering listeners a new way of listening and further personalising the content they listen to.
Among the middle class, we see people “hot-footing” between their modern, ambitious lives and their familial roots.
Their listening repertoire includes national urban stations during 9am-5pm while, after hours and at certain times of the year when cross-country migration takes place, community stations become a strong part of this listening list as they return to their roots.
Contrasts and conflicts
We have known for a while that South Africa’s up-and-coming middle class are often caught between the roots and culture of a traditional family structure and the ambitious freedom of a newly independent urban lifestyle. The Unilever Institute detailed these contrasts and conflicts that this market experiences in their 4 Million and Rising research.
The research illustrates that together with financial freedom comes an increased need and demand to support family members while battling the urge to rather enjoy one’s hard-earned money. It also shows that there is a pull between adopting modern cultures and media, and traditional practices and learnings.
Newer research from the Unilever Institute (Connecting with Survivors 2014) confirms that looking at research itself at only one moment in time is irresponsible and this is highly relevant in this market, where we see annual migrations between geographical areas as people move back to their roots over key times of the year.
RAMS August 2014 shows just how well SA’s African Language Radio stations are performing and the lifestyle above may be why.
Rise and change evident
Without running time-shifted research and analysing people’s migratory habits, it is difficult to pin down exact trends. That said, the rise and change of the community station is evident, providing first-language, relevant content to listeners.
Angela Haarhoff (@ANGtheHOFF) is an analytics and insights strategist at MEC Notabene Johannesburg. A Psychology and AAA Brand Management graduate, her background includes diverse years spent in strategic planning, marketing services and public relations. She contributes “Talking Radio”, a monthly analysis of South African radio listenership figures, to MarkLives.com. Follow @mecnotabene for regular media updates.
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