For Radio Listeners, Liking is Literal

May 1, 2012

This article is included in these additional categories:

Analytics, Automated & MarTech | Boomers & Older | Data-driven | Media & Entertainment | Men | Radio | Social Media | Technology | Women | Youth & Gen X

jacobsmedia-radio-listeners-facebook-likes-may2012.jpgRadio listeners who like their stations on Facebook overwhelmingly do so out of a simple affinity for the station, finds Jacobs Media in a survey of about 57,000 radio listeners in the US and Canada released in April 2012. Out of the 45.9% of respondents who had liked the stations that sent them the survey on Facebook, an impressive 84.4% said their main reason for doing so was because they just like the station. The next-closest primary reasons given were to find out about concerts and events (32.3%) and to play contests (29.7%). By comparison, data from a Market Force study also released in April 2012 indicates that among US respondents who regularly like the Facebook page of restaurant, retail, travel, entertainment, and financial services businesses, the chief reason for doing so is to take advantage of discounts and other incentives (79%), followed by seeing details on sales and events (70%).

Listeners Make Frequent Visitors

Data from Jacobs Media’s “All-Format Techsurvey8” indicates that of the US and Canadian radio listeners who have liked the page of the radio station that sent them the survey (170 stations participated), 57.4% visit the page at least weekly, including slightly more than 1 in 10 who do so every day. Comparing this to the total sample size, this equates to 27.2% of all radio listeners surveyed who visit the Facebook page of their radio station on at least a weekly basis.

Facebook Most Popular SocNet; Pinterest Users Share Most

Facebook (79%) is easily the most popular social network among radio listeners, with LinkedIn (29.7%) and Twitter (22.1%) trailing distantly. MySpace still sees some usage (13.3%) among this group, and Pinterest (8.4% – 13.3% among female respondents) also sees significant usage. Overall, 85% of the respondents said they are members of at least one social networking site.

Pinterest users appear to be the most likely to share, click like, or re-tweet things they see on any websites, Facebook, or Twitter, with 28.3% saying they frequently do so. By comparison, 25.2% of Twitter users, 24.4% of Google+ users, and 16.5% of Facebook users say they are serial sharers.

Most Listeners Use Variety of Tech

Radio listeners aren’t just avid social networking users and sharers, they’re also frequent users of a wide variety of media. For example, more than 9 in 10 use the internet (93%), TV (92%) and AM/FM radio (92%) for at least one hour a day. 58% stream video at least weekly, while 38% listen to internet radio and 30% to public radio at that frequency. It bears noting that the poll was conducted online, so these figures may not translate to all radio listeners.

Additionally, technology appears to have wide penetration among this demographic: 60% own an MP3 player, 52% a smartphone, and 24% a tablet.

Other Findings:

  • Among radio listeners who have liked the Facebook page of the station that sent them the survey, those aged 18-34 are more likely than the average to visit the page at least weekly (61.7% vs. 57.4%). Women are also more likely to do so than men (58.5% vs. 55.4%).
  • Female radio listeners are far more likely than males to regularly share, click like, or re-tweet things they see on websites, Facebook, or Twitter (16% vs. 9.4%). Similarly, the 18-34 set is much more likely than the 55 and over group (19.9% vs. 8.2%) to do so.
  • Female respondents are almost 9% more likely than male respondents to have a social networking profile (88% vs. 81%) and almost 40% more likely to be Groupon subscribers (54% vs. 39%).
  • Male respondents, though, are far more likely to stream video at least weekly (67% vs. 52%) and to listen to internet radio at least weekly (42% vs. 36%).

About the Data: The Jacobs Media survey was fielded from January 31 to February 15, 2012. 170 commercial stations from the US and Canada, plus a syndicated show and 2 internet stations, participated. Most respondents are members of station email databases. Some responses were gathered via the station’s website or social networking pages. No station contributed more than 4% to the sample. The total respondent sample is 57,358. As a web poll, it cannot replicate all radio listeners nor even each station’s audience.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This