Recently, Cumulus Media introduced the Audio Active Group (AAG), an audio media and creative advisory group for marketers and agencies. Pierre Bouvard, the Chief Insights Officer of Cumulus Media/Westwood One, leads this sponsor-focused research and insights team. They are aiming to provide comprehensive marketing insights. The Audio Active Group will partner with clients to measure the impact of the entire audio campaign, specializing in the following areas: Audio creative, media planning, budget allocation within audio, and measurement of the whole audio spend.
Sounds good to me. Looking at audio research from something other than AM/FM radio’s exclusive perspective is excellent for transparency. AAG uses Edison Research’s “ Share of Ear” Report, Nielsen’s Nationwide, and the Scarborough Podcast Buying Power Study data. I looked into the AAG Audio Media Planning guide and pulled out the following nuggets that could help any sports radio seller:
Don’t listen to “everybody listens to pandora” nonsense. AM/FM radio is 13 times larger than Pandora and 19 times larger than Spotify.
Sell more than drive time. Only 40% of U.S. AM/FM radio listening occurs during mornings and afternoon drive times, and 60% of U.S. AM/FM radio listening occurs outside drive times.
Men listen more. Overall, AM/FM radio listening is more male (53%) than female (47%).
You can reach plenty of listeners via podcast. Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2021 study said podcasts generate 41% reach each month.
Remember to schedule wisely. At a minimum, you need to generate 200 GRPs monthly to reach half the market of, say Men 25-54. That’s a lot of spots on sports radio stations that are in the .3-.5 average rating range. Use the other stations in your cluster and add those classic rock and news/talk numbers for a balanced buy at a minimum. Think of selling 50 spots a week, not 15!
Sports radio listeners aren’t in the AARP. While we aren’t a Rhythmic CHR station ( 35 years old average age), at least we aren’t ALL NEWS (59 years old average age). Sports is a respectable 49-year-old average age listener. And, on average, we are younger than Classic Hits (53) or Classic Rock(51)! Damn, though, with no 18-34-year-olds, the future worries me.
ALL SPORTS reaches 6% of all Adults 18+, is 76% Male vs. 24% Female listenership, 34% of us have kids, and we have three people on average living at home. So 2/3 of us have no kids, and we still have 3 in the house?
ALL SPORTS folks are average when fundraising, belonging to charitable organizations and buying green products. I never thought sports radio was an excellent place for many philanthropic causes that weren’t sports-oriented.
Sports podcasts are solid. The only genre of podcasts that reach more than 18+ Adults is, in order, Comedy, News, Society/Culture, and True Crime. Our own Seth Everett even thinks interviews are better on podcasts than radio.
Almost 70% of sports podcast listeners will tune in to a comedy or news podcast as well. 82% of Government podcast listeners go to sports podcasts. May we be listening to Government in Sports pods soon? NFL relocation anybody? Zzzzzzzzzz.
Lastly, I will follow up on this, remember to schedule smart, buy reach, and don’t hammer a nail. Erwin Ephron is considered the father of modern media planning. He said, “most advertising usually works by reminding people about brands they know when they happen to need that product. Ads work best when the consumer is ready to buy. Remind the many. Don’t lecture the few.”
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
