by Tracy Johnson
Every morning you bust their hump to create great content and bring your “A” game to entertain fans and attract new ones. You’re grinding it out, day after day. You obsess about each and every quarter-hour. Teases and features are delivered with precision. Your heart and soul goes into the show every day. But step back and analyze audience behavior. It’s amazing how little listeners listen.
It’s disheartening. Or at least annoying. Personalities put so much into every show, and what’s the reward? Those greedy, self-absorbed, me-first listeners tune out. They actually turn on other stations, including arch-rivals.
How dare they? Don’t they know how hard this is?
But the amount of tune in isn’t the worst part.
Most listening takes place in the background, with the audience focusing their attention on something else. Like talking to their spouse or kids. The radio may be on, but it’s in the background. They never hear the best moments.
It’s just rude.
Then the phone rings or a text comes in and they take a call from the boss. They turn down the radio to make plans for lunch with a friend instead of paying attention to the 7:10 feature.
Come on, today’s episode is awesome. What’s wrong with these people?
Then they stop for an errand or pop into a convenience store for coffee. There goes another quarter-hour. They’re not even available to listen. And when they come back in, they may forget all about what was or is on the radio.
Back on the highway, they’re stuck in traffic. So they tune out to get a report from the station that gives traffic every 8 minutes. Will they remember to come back?
At work, everything changes. Will they tune in for the feature or contest promoted all morning? Maybe. But then an email comes in with a link to a cute video on YouTube. So that comes first. And then another video. And another. Soon, they forget about that appointment with the radio.
This pattern repeats day after day, hour after hour. It’s not just causal comers that tune out. It’s also fans. Even passionate P1’s aren’t listening as much as we hope.
Analyzing how much or how little listeners listen is shocking. Then sobering. Then hopefully, it’ll prompt action.
Here are the facts:
That means radio shows receive about 30 minutes of tune in per day for about 2 days per week. 30 x 2 = 60 minutes per week.
Remember, the show is on for about 1,200 minutes per week. So here’s how much they actually hear:
The average P1—the biggest fans—miss 95% of your show.
The infographic breaks it down in a little more detail. But that’s how little listeners listen.
Wow. Ouch. That hurts, doesn’t it? Oh, I forgot to mention that this is just the amount of time your radio show registers on their meter. It doesn’t take into account whether or not they’re hearing anything you say. They’re usually listening in the background.
Double ouch.
Relax. Step back.
Listeners aren’t going to change listening habits.
The only way to respond to this data is to find more ways to fit into their lifestyle and become more important when they are available to listen.
What does that mean for a radio station or show?
Here are some key takeaways:
Are you surprised at how little listeners listen? Isn’t it amazing how much they actually (don’t) hear?
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Maybe it’s to time to rethink how programming and performing a radio show. Put some urgency into making the show stand out with truly great material that fits into how radio is being heard.
Is your show optimized to appeal to your audience based on how much they actually hear? Let us help. We can redesign the show and put you on the path to success. Contact us.
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