by Angela Haarhoff (@ANGtheHOFF) At the recent MTN On Air Radio Conference held in Joburg, some interesting discussions took place regarding listenership measurement and ad revenue. With so many differing opinions, agendas and, with respect, egos in the room, it’s clear both these topics have more than 50 shades of grey and that all the old rulebooks are being rewritten.
Listenership
RAMS figures are the bread and butter of many a station and, without them, life would be very confusing and random. Agencies need these figures to plan and convince clients to advertise on radio in the first place. Marketers need a currency to place budget against. So the importance of these figures currently cannot be dismissed.
Looking at radio in the future, we will start to see less reliance upon these figures but this will take time.
Industry rainmakers, Gareth Cliff and Darren Scott, have both moved on from seeing radio audiences in numbers alone, admitting that they very often have no idea how many people their online platforms reach, and aren’t really all that concerned that they don’t. The content and engagement they create and provide — and the spin-off thereafter — outweigh the importance of an audience-listenership figure alone.
Adspend revenue
The conference question of the day was, “How do new non-FM and smaller radio platforms make their revenue if advertising is not yet key?”
While there did not seem to be a clear-cut answer, what was clear is that new models are slowly being trialled and adopted.
It will be interesting to see if there is a shift from traditional big-station FM adspend by big marketers in favour of the smaller online platforms and community stations. Measurement thereof is another issue altogether, however.
2014 still reflects similar patterns of old but here is a breakdown of full-year adspend across radio station as reflected by Nielsen (rate card value):
The above reflects that a large listenership figure does not guarantee the largest portion of advertising interest and perhaps the thought of ‘fish where the fish with money are’ overrules a big audience.
What with so many data sets to use as planning and strategising guides, agencies are left with the unenviable task of making sense of it all, as well as trying to put on the forward-thinking cap and valuing the engagement and content associated with new platforms.
It’s not going to be an overnight mindset change by any means.
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. Follow @mecnotabene for regular media updates.
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