With PPM electronic audience measurement some of the “rules of the road” change for radio programmers but a number of other keys to success will not. In this article, Arbitron Senior Vice President of Marketing Bill Rose shares some of his thoughts for programming in the PPM world, what’s different and what’s not.
by Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Arbitron
With PPM electronic audience measurement some of the “rules of the road” change for radio programmers, but a number of other keys to success will not. In this article I will share some of my thoughts for programming in the PPM world, what’s different and what’s not.
What DOESN’T Change With PPM
Some people suggest that since PPM is a passive form of measurement, winning in the ratings is no longer about perception. They say, “After all, respondents don’t need to write things down anymore.” Others say programmers shouldn’t worry about saying the station’s call letters or slogan. I simply don’t believe this to be the case. I believe winning in the ratings is still fundamentally about perception or “positioning.”
In real estate, the answer is “location, location, location.” In radio, the answer is usually “position, position, position.” Find a clearly defined and unique position in the mind of the listener, and you have found a radio station that has consistent ratings success.
How do you know if you have a position that cuts through and connects with your listeners? Ask yourself these challenging questions and be prepared to tell the truth:
- Can listeners identify what your station is “known for?”
- Does your station have a leadership position in the mind of the listener? Is your station the one they think of when they think of “the top country station in town,” “the station with the best news,” “the station for rock,” etc.
- Do listeners know who your station is for? e.g.: “The station to listen to at work.”
- Finally, do your listeners know how to use your station? e.g. “Tune in at the ‘eights’ for traffic and weather.”
Don’t let the electronic element of PPM fool you. Regardless of how radio is measured, getting people to remember your station and the position it holds in the market is still the key to success. Think about the stations with strong ratings in either PPM or the diary and you will find that those properties have very strong and clearly articulated positions.
So how much of your ratings success can you attribute to a solid position versus how well you execute your game plan? Here’s my take. Think of a station with a 6% share. I believe that four points of the 6% share come from creating and owning a solid position. The other two points are based on the station’s execution – the sum of all the little things right. The key take-away… No matter how well you execute the game plan, most of your success depends more on solidifying your position. It’s like a sports team. A team with average players and no stand-out element can succeed but only with perfect execution. If they lose one key player their season usually goes down the tubes. Teams with strong stand-out elements (such as solid starting pitching and strong defense up the middle) can work through occasional errors or the loss of a player and still succeed. The same holds true with radio ratings.
What Else Is The Same In The PPM World?
You still need enough cume to achieve your target audience share. Most stations need a critical mass of cume to be viable. There are exceptions to that of course. Smooth Jazz, stations focused on ethnic segments, and Sports can have lower cume because they can drive higher Time Spent Listening (TSL) from a narrower and more loyal target.
How do you determine that critical mass of cume for your market? Picture a grid with Daily Time Spent on the vertical axis (low TSL at the top and High TSL at the bottom) and Daily Cume on the horizontal axis (low cume on the left and bigger cume on the right) and plot audience share at the juncture of different Cume and TSL combinations. Place each station in the market on the grid for Cume (horizontal), TSL (vertical) and share (in the middle), and find the point in the Cume axis where most stations have the target share or higher. That point is the market’s Critical Mass of Cume.
Let me offer a few other thoughts on the TSL/Cume grid. There are four quadrants on the Grid. In the quadrant with both small TSL and small Cume (upper right left?), the audience is too small to drive big ratings. In the quadrant of Lower Cume with High TSL, stations can succeed because they drive high TSL reflecting more passion for the station. Stations in the quadrant with High Cume and Low TSL appeal to a large base of listeners and they have an upside for TSL growth. Stations that deliver BOTH High Daily Time Spent and high Daily Cume are in that fourth quadrant. These stations achieve the most desirable position in the hearts and ears of the audience. It is rare for stations to have both high cume and high TSL. When they do, they live (at least for now) in “happy land” for ratings. These stations almost always have a distinct position that drives a higher share of audience.
What’s Different In The PPM World?
Gone are the days of waiting months to see the impact of your programming decisions. With PPM, the results of your changes come through much sooner. Weekly reports have the same sample size as monthlies. There is less bounce and you can see the result of changes in the market and programming much, much faster.
Example: the recent change at a Los Angeles station from Alternative Rock to Regional Mexican. PPM data showed consistently low ratings in the weeks leading up to the format change. The ratings went up in a big way as soon as the switch was made. Cume went up right away and continued its climb consistently in the months following the change. In the past this change would have taken months to see. Now with PPM the results break through much faster.
Another change is that with PPM, every minute counts. In the past a mistake on a given day or week may not have shown up in the ratings since each week of the diary service contributed only 1/12th of the total quarterly sample. Now with PPM the full panel is working each day. Therefore, all your good content will shine through. However, the impact of all the marginal content will also show up. In the past with the diary a day may or may not make a difference. With PPM, there are no days off. So with PPM give serious thought to every minute of every day. Are your features truly “appointment worthy?” Do listeners actually alter their schedules so they don’t miss what is on your station at a certain time? If not, you may want to consider what will.
In conclusion, to achieve ratings success in the PPM world Perception and Positioning still count! Define your position and map out the critical mass of Cume and other Key Performance Indicators. Also, with PPM, life moves faster. Changes in programming show up in the ratings in weeks and even days instead of months so management will expect quicker reaction times.
Every minute counts in radio. PPM measurement delivers the results quickly and points the way to even more informed and effective programming for your audience.
PPM also brings a new tool to the table for PDs called PD Advantage Web. PDA Web is a Web-based programming analysis tool that slices and dices PPM data in many enlightening ways. PDA Web is designed to pull new insights from PPM data to help programmers make better informed decisions and understand how your position is translating into PPM metrics.
Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Arbitron, can be reached at (212) 887-1327 or bill.rose@arbitron.com.
