Radio

Some consumers are noticing brands' attempts to promote their social presences in advertising, with some media channels more likely to elicit a response than others, according to [pdf] results from a Burst Media survey of more than 2,500 US online adults. Respondents reported being most likely to notice brand-related social accounts in online banner ads (27.2%), but a relatively high number also notice them in TV (24.1%) and print (21.1%) ads. Among those who recall brands promoting their social assets in digital ads, about 6 in 10 say the efforts are very (29.4%) or somewhat (31.6%) effective in prompting social interaction with those brands. A similar percentage (58.7%) feel the same way about social cues in TV ads. Read more »

What kind of social behaviors do local media fans exhibit on Facebook and Twitter? It depends on the medium, says TVB [pdf] in a study conducted in conjunction with Colligent, that combines Nielsen Media Research and Kantar Media data with social media behaviors. The "Cultural Currency" study analyzes the social media behaviors of 167 million Facebook and Twitter users across a range of legacy media, finding that overall, local broadcast TV viewers tend to be most heavily engaged socially with their stations. For advertisers, understanding how social behaviors vary among fans of various local media is an important consideration when crafting social calls to action to accompany their local media buys. Read more »

Americans might be listening to more radio, but radio's advertising revenues aren't going anywhere, at least for the time being. In Q1, total expenditures were flat, at $3.5 billion, according to [pdf] the latest revenue report from the Radio Advertising Bureau, which excludes network radio data due to incomplete information. Healthy growth in digital (9%) and off-air (5%) helped offset a sluggish quarter for spot, which was down 2% from Q1 2012. While remaining the smallest segment, at $179 million in revenues, digital's growth means that it now exceeds 5% share of total radio revenues. Read more »

While a recent survey found a majority believing that in 5 years, Americans will primarily listen to streaming radio versus traditional AM/FM radio, another study, this time from Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (CCM+E), begs to differ. According to the "State of Listening in America" study, 69% of respondents agree that "streaming services do not replace radio." Other results from the survey suggest that radio is alive and well: 92% of respondents said they listen to radio at least once a week, while 71% say it's part of their daily routine. Read more »

Americans aged 18-34 are more likely than their older counterparts to prefer a range of entertainment types on-demand, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Stitcher. For example, among music listeners, 18-34-year-olds are twice as likely as 35-54-year-olds to prefer to listen always or mostly on demand (46% vs. 23%). And among TV viewers, 41% of those aged 18-34 prefer to watch always or mostly on demand, versus 21% of those aged 55 and older. Indeed, the desire to watch on one's own schedule has become a key driver of online video consumption. Read more »

Companies can stand to reap rewards from creating emotional connections with consumers, and it seems that radio benefits in its own way from emotional triggers. According to a Jacobs Media survey of more than 78,000 radio listeners in the US and Canada, 40% said a main reason for listening to AM/FM radio is to get in a better mood, with another 40% citing this as an important reason. Additionally, about 7 in 10 say that wanting to escape from the pressures of an everyday life is an important or main reason to listen, and about 8 in 10 listen because radio keeps them company. Read more »

The newly-released Techsurvey9 from Jacobs Media contains some very interesting data about the social networking preferences of Gen Z (born in 1993 or later) radio listeners. The study, which finds that radio listeners in the US and Canada are highly social overall, shows that compared to older generations, Gen Z listeners have a strong affinity for emerging social networks such as Tumblr and Snapchat, and are less drawn to Facebook. In fact, the survey finds that Baby Boomers (born between 1946-64; 73.3%) are as likely as Gen Zers (72.9%) to have a Facebook account. The results come on the heels of research from Piper Jaffray which found Twitter challenging Facebook as American teens' most important social network. Read more »

The US advertising market is quite heavily affected by political spending and the Olympics (P&O), with TV particularly influenced by cyclical P&O spending, according to [download page] the latest forecast from MAGNA GLOBAL. The researcher estimates that ad spending on core media will inch forward by 0.4% this year, but that growth is a more robust 2.4% when excluding P&O revenues. That disparity also means that TV revenues will decline by 2.8% this year, but otherwise be up by 1.9% when excluding the P&O impact. Next year, when P&O spending is back in play, the advertising market will rebound, growing by 5.9%, and fueled by an 8.9% expansion in TV revenues. Read more »

83% of radio listeners in the US have a profile on a social networking site, according to results from Jacob Media's Techsurvey 9, which surveyed more than 78,000 listeners across the US and Canada. While social networking use is (unsurprisingly) highest among radio listeners aged 18-34 (91.1% in the US and Canada combined), it's also quite high among the 55+ crowd (73.5%). By comparison, a recent Pew survey found that 67% of US internet users have a social networking profile, a figure that drops to 52% among 50-64-year-olds, and just 32% among the 65 and older set. What's more, American radio listeners seem keen to look beyond just Facebook: 29% use Twitter; 21% use Pinterest; and 20% use Google+. Read more »

By 2015, the internet should account for 23.4% of global ad spending, details Zenith Optimedia in a new forecast. That's up more than 5% points from last year's 18%, and comes at the expense of almost all traditional media, none of which are slated to see any growth in share of spending. TV's share will remain flat, at about 40%, as will cinema's (at just 0.6%), but newspapers, magazines, radio, and outdoor will see varying levels of declining share. Print, as expected, will be hardest hit: newspapers and magazines are the only media forecast to see a decline in expenditures. Read more »