With PPM: Look Before You Leap!

by Gary Marince

When we started rolling out PPM as currency, our first advice to programmers was “don’t panic!”  And now, many months later, our even more researched advice remains the same; don’t panic – resist the temptation to make hasty changes based on the first batch of PPM survey periods and a bunch of unsubstantiated PPM myths.”

Here’s why the reminder is necessary; there are a number of very successful radio stations, obviously in top markets, who talk about “tweaking” their programming based on what they think resonates in PPM.

Case-in-Point #1: I routinely hear “cut way back on station IDs and calls.” Whoa! The rationale looks good on paper but falls short in practice. Certainly the PPM device will know which stations are being heard by which listeners. But the assumption people are already listening to my station, therefore I don’t need to clutter my air with calls and frequency mentions, might be compromising a wonderful marketing opportunity. If we think of our stations as brands, then, as the PD or brand manager, we’re obligated to help people associate what they want (my special blend of entertainment) with where they can get it (my station) – the next time they want it.

In the diary service, the frequent mention of calls and frequency helped bolster diarykeeper recall and ultimate inclusion in the diary. In PPM, including calls and frequency mentions remain vital but for a different reason; marketing. We want the people to consider tuning back to us the next time they are with their radio.

In diary we went for recall. In PPM we’re going for trial, usage and association with the calls and frequency mentions.

Think about this – Coke spends a lot of money painting the individual cans inside a carton or case. Logically, once the purchase was made, why would Coke care about the cans when you already bought the case?  It’s because they understand the value of reminding consumers what they’re drinking/enjoying while they’re deep in the consumption mode. The premise holds true for radio, make certain people know where to tune the next time they want to hear Amy Winehouse or Colbie Caillat.

Case-in-Point #2: Another term which, without substantiation, is shooting up the charts in popularity is “appointment listening.” I think the phrase “setting an appointment” originally related to NBC’s Thursday night lineup. And viewers were encouraged to make an appointment to watch TV on Thursday nights. Radio embraced the nifty term, maybe without fully understanding its origin or usage, and now applies it to nearly every element of a routine broadcast day.

I had the honor of spending a couple of days recently at Coleman University where the Dean of Great Radio, Jon Coleman, very convincingly made the case “you cannot change a person’s listening behavior.” Lifestyle more often than not, dictates how and when people use radio. And there’s no indication that simply declaring “you’ve got an appointment – be listening tomorrow at 10:00AM when you’ll hear three Celine Dion songs in a row” will translate to increased listening. Actually, you may be unwittingly contributing to your clutter by taking valuable time to promote such an event in the name of creating appointments.

Case-in-Point #3: If you have a “soft” daypart or string of soft quarter hours, it’s unlikely you can boost that time period by simply putting something “really great” there. Again, it’s a lifestyle issue and each station has a natural audience listening curve or pattern. It’s incumbent upon the PD to fully understand if there are listeners available who might just be spending time elsewhere.

When information as to how people use radio, based on PPM, was first released, we saw morning drive listening levels not quite on par with reported diary levels. And we saw afternoon drive levels exceeding morning drive levels. I’m routinely asked if the talent in the two dayparts should be swapped.

Yikes!

I’ll bet, as time passes, we’ll be able to further substantiate how people use radio in each daypart differently. And let’s face the fact; television has really gained traction in the household in the morning, possibly at the expense of radio. But more importantly, if your station has solid afternoon drive numbers – don’t experiment based on the belief you can duplicate those numbers in other dayparts.

And for a Final Point: Here’s one that’s directly from a study by Mark Ramsey of Mercury Research, Seducing PPM: The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Ratings. Mark’s work was presented at the recent NAB and was hailed as “very enlightening and helpful.” The particular habit we’re referring to is called “Ride the High Tide.” The concept is quite simple and seems to hold up in a number of different analytical views. If you can identify a feature, contest or element of your station which most likely will favorably impact your Quarter Hour numbers, it will do so based on the dayparts original numbers. If you run the element when you have lots of listeners, you will have lots more. If you try to goose a soft daypart and run it when you have fewer listeners, it may boost it, but not by much.

So, if you’ve got that killer element, consider running it when you have you biggest audience. It is likely to yield your most bang for the buck.

There are many exciting PPM based research projects underway. We look forward to sharing them with you in this column in the future. In the meantime – good luck and here’s to your continued success!

Gary Marince is Vice President of Programming Services for Arbitron. He is available to answer your inquiries regarding the Arbitron PPM or Diary services. You can reach him at gary.marince@arbitron.com.