Spoken Word Radio Formats (News, News-Talk, Sports, etc...) are more profitable, especially FM News-Talk radio stations
In a recent Miller/Kaplan/Arase tally of Power Ratio study during 2010 (based on Arbitrons' PPM audience data), the spoken word radio formats proved more profitable with less ratings than music-formatted radio stations. Is this because the Program Directors understand the PPM ratings system better? Are the Sales teams more knowledgable?
The number one most profitable format is the All-News format, despite it being ranked #11 in national PPM ratings. The All-News Format and three other spoken word formats (News-Talk, Spanish News/Talk, and All Sports), ranked amongst the top five revenued radio formats nationally.
In the Miller/Kaplan/Arase study, they found that the commercials are less intrusive on the spoken word formats than their music counterparts, meaning that the listeners stay tuned to the talk format during the commercial breaks moreso than the music formats.
The talk formats also have more inventory (minutes of commercials) per hour than do the music stations. Music will have 8-9 minutes of commercials per hour, while the spoken word formats have 15-18 minutes per hour.
National Political Election campaigns (especially the year-long Presidential Primary season) and Big News weeks, News/Talk Radio formats get a ratings bump and eventual rate card bump.
The 24-hour news cycle, cable TV invented decades ago, has helped news and talk stations grow audience by creating greater consumer interest and awareness in stories and newsmakers.
Searching the internet for news stories and audio actualities from websites dedicated to news or information can be accomplished anytime day or night.
You can go from home watching a 24-hour news channel; to the car and listen to news-talk radio; to Starbucks to get news on the computer via laptop/ipad to latch onto the news-talk radio stations' websites; and to the office to search news on the internet with news-talk playing on the radio. News listeners have spoken word formats at their disposal.
The M.K.A study also showed that ethnic music formats -- such as Hip Hop and R/B, Urban, UAC, Spanish, Asian, and the like -- have been hit the hardest losing audience and revenue during Arbitrons' 2010 PPM ratings.
Should struggling ethnic music formats in the dominant PPM ratings world, think about adding 50 to 100 percent commercial inventory? Then maybe a switch to one of the Spoken Word formats daily (day-parted or full) will increase the bottom line.
Link to study: http://www.millerkaplan.com/2010-mrr
The number one most profitable format is the All-News format, despite it being ranked #11 in national PPM ratings. The All-News Format and three other spoken word formats (News-Talk, Spanish News/Talk, and All Sports), ranked amongst the top five revenued radio formats nationally.
In the Miller/Kaplan/Arase study, they found that the commercials are less intrusive on the spoken word formats than their music counterparts, meaning that the listeners stay tuned to the talk format during the commercial breaks moreso than the music formats.
The talk formats also have more inventory (minutes of commercials) per hour than do the music stations. Music will have 8-9 minutes of commercials per hour, while the spoken word formats have 15-18 minutes per hour.
National Political Election campaigns (especially the year-long Presidential Primary season) and Big News weeks, News/Talk Radio formats get a ratings bump and eventual rate card bump.
The 24-hour news cycle, cable TV invented decades ago, has helped news and talk stations grow audience by creating greater consumer interest and awareness in stories and newsmakers.
Searching the internet for news stories and audio actualities from websites dedicated to news or information can be accomplished anytime day or night.
You can go from home watching a 24-hour news channel; to the car and listen to news-talk radio; to Starbucks to get news on the computer via laptop/ipad to latch onto the news-talk radio stations' websites; and to the office to search news on the internet with news-talk playing on the radio. News listeners have spoken word formats at their disposal.
The M.K.A study also showed that ethnic music formats -- such as Hip Hop and R/B, Urban, UAC, Spanish, Asian, and the like -- have been hit the hardest losing audience and revenue during Arbitrons' 2010 PPM ratings.
Should struggling ethnic music formats in the dominant PPM ratings world, think about adding 50 to 100 percent commercial inventory? Then maybe a switch to one of the Spoken Word formats daily (day-parted or full) will increase the bottom line.
Link to study: http://www.millerkaplan.com/2010-mrr
posted by Kirk Tanter at
6/21/2011 05:18:00 pm
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