ARE LISTENERS TO PUBLIC RADIO PODCASTS DIFFERENT THAN OTHER PODCAST LISTENERS?

On Tuesday, Edison Research released its new survey about the perception of commercials by podcast Super Listeners. Publishers and ad sellers are buzzing about the results shown in the chart on the left. The survey found that many Super Listeners say they think the commercials “generally relevant” to their interests.

The Edison study was done in conjunction Podcast One [link], a division of the commercial radio network Westwood One. The survey consisted of 1,032 online interviews.

The headline of the survey is that podcast ads are an effective way to reach people. Commercials within podcasts rated higher (41% positive) than adds embedded in websites (37%), Live or recorded TV (23%) and AM/FM radio (23%). While the news is good for podcast ad venders, we believe the biggest “new news” found in the survey is about the Super listeners themselves. They are rare breed.

Edison classifies a Super Listeners as someone who consumes more than five hours of podcasts per week. This is a subset of a subset.

According to Edison, one in five (22%) of Americans (age 12+ or older) say they are weekly podcast listeners. Super Listeners are estimated to be 28% of the 22%.

Edison says that more than half (57%) of Super Listeners are “Super Duper Listeners” that consume more than eight hours per week of podcasts.

But, the Edison survey does not break down public radio versus the general population. We hypothesize that these two groups are different in the way they consume podcasts and perceive commercials in the shows.

Podtrac’s September Top 20 podcasts chart shows the split between the two groups. Podcasts with ties to public radio, occupy 14 of the Top 20 (70%). NPR podcasts are 50% of the Top 20. Meanwhile, commercial for-profit publishers have only six shows in the top ten. Plus, almost all of the podcasts associated with public radio have radio components.

We have said in the past that PODCASTS + RADIO = SUCCESS. Perhaps we should add that this is true for podcasts that have an affinity with public radio.

Podcasts produced by commercial publishers are much less likely to have a radio component. Only one show published by commercial companies has a radio component. The owners of The Ben Shapiro Show leveraged their popularity and media coverage into a daily show on right wing radio stations. They are the exception.

Even iHeartRadio doesn’t have a major podcast on radio despite the fact they own around a thousand of them.

We believe there are intrinsic differences between the people who chose to listen This American Life and those who choose to listen Pardon My Dust from Barstool Sports.

People who are public radio listeners are likely to have different attitudes about commercials within podcasts. After all, public radio is noncommercial.

FOR THE LOVE OF PUBLIC RADIO: REMEBERING CARL NELSON • NIELSON HEADPHONE PROBLEM • ‘MASS DELUSION’ AT WBAI

Carl Nelson

Public Media lost one of its future leaders on October 17, 2019, when Carl Nelson, 35, died unexpectedly. 

Nelson was the host and producer of Sessions from Studio A at Northern Public Radio (WNIJ/WNIU) in DeKalb, Illinois. 

(He is not related to a person with the same name who works at RRC.)

Whenever we loose a person who personifies the love of public radio we all feel a sense of loss. But the death of Carl Nelson was more than that. Nelson was multi-talented MVP on the air and behind the scenes at Northern Public Radio.

In addition to being a voice that listeners enjoyed and trusted, Nelson was the Chief Operator of the stations and a technical wizard. In a tribute on Northern Public Radio’s website [link] GM Stacy Hoste said: 

“He used his technical and creative skills to help his coworkers do their jobs better, faster, and more simply. We were also lucky to be on the receiving end of many of his culinary projects, from smoked brisket to a superior cup of coffee.”

“Carl’s talent was rivaled only by his determination. From dreaming up Studio A and launching a local music showcase to overseeing technical operations and driving across the country with a mobile studio in tow, Carl gave his all to making WNIJ a better station to listen to, to support, and to work at.”

Nelson spent 15-years of his short career at Northern Public Radio. His passion was music. Known as a “hot-shot” drummer, Nelson started Sessions from Studio A [link] as a way to showcase the local music scene. Sessions evolved into a weekly program airing Thursday evenings and Saturday at Noon on WNIJ. 

Colin & Miles

Source: Facebook

A tribute to Nelson will air this coming Thursday (10/24) on Studio A.

He leaves behind two sons Colin and Miles who were the loves of his life. 

Friends have establise a fund for Nelson’s sons. More info is available at 815-756-1022.

MORE ABOUT NIELSEN’S ‘HEADPHONE PROBLEM’

Yesterday we reported on Nielsen Audio’s difficulty in capturing listening by folks uses headphones and earbuds.  We new we were in good company when we saw that Fred Jacobs published a story on his blog [link].

On the right is a chart that shows 12% of headphone listening in the UK was to audio streams for radio stations. 

Jacobs' post had the sly headline: Will Radio’s Headphone Conundrum Finally Come To A Head?

He commented:

“While technology has made it possible to listen to radio on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart speakers, there's been that one rub in the digital ointment: Headphone listening.”

THE ‘PACIFICA DREAM’ IS FADING

Image from KPFT Houston Program Guide in the 1970s

 

Inside Radio reports [link] that a lawsuit by local WBAI folks has been kicked up the New York Supreme Court. 

This likely means things will remain the same until larger forces prevail.

Earlier, Radio INK reported [link] that WBAI
“defenders are "delusional."

 Radio INK continued:

Radio Ink has been told that WBAI staff and supporters seem to “suffer from a mass delusion that WBAI belongs to them, and that Pacifica officers stole it from them.  But all the capital assets of WBAI, including the local offices and studios, belong to Pacifica.

[Radio Ink’s]  WBAI source goes on to say the staff refuses to acknowledge what’s really happening. They refuse to admit what Pacifica audits have shown for years: that WBAI has run up deficits of millions of dollars. 

NIELSEN IS TRYING TO SOLVE ‘THE HEADPHONE PROBLEM’ • ROLLING DIARY TRENDS • CALLING ALL RADIO GEEKS

Image courtesy of Randy Kabitch

The image on the left shows how Nielsen currently measures headphone listening. 

It requires jerry-rigging a “tap” to find out what a person is hearing. Respondents are turned-off by the clunky setup and often don’t do it. Earbuds are about freedom of movement.

For years clients have complained that Nielsen Audio is not capturing the full listening audience because it is nearly impossible for Portable People Meter (PPM) devices trace listening to headphones. 

Now Nielsen says they are addressing the problem.

PPM devices rely on ambient sources that have imbedded “watermarks” that are used to capture listening. But if someone is listening while wearing headphones PPM devices can’t hear the code.

Headphones, earbuds, etc. are ubiquitous in the U.S. today.  It seems like every one has a pair. The popularly of listening to audio on headphones has forced Nielsen to look for possible solutions.

Inside Radio reported on Monday [link] that Nielsen is doing a survey to quantify the radio listening that with headphones, whether via “Bluetooth” or plug-in cord.l

Nielsen said in a press release that they hope to have the plan in 2020. One of the ideas being discussed is increasing the strength of the PPM devices digital tone.

The findings are important because Nielsen says folks with ear-gear most often are listening to the audio streams of a radio station.

ROLLING TRENDS FOR DIARY MARKETS

Nielsen doesn’t have to worry about headphone listening in markets that use Diary methodology. Respondents do it the old-fashioned way – they write it down.

We are working with a limited amount of Nielsen audio data. 

The only metric we see is metro average-quarter-hour share ("AQH. We have told Nielsen that we need estimated weekly listeners ("cume") is essential to our ability to tell the story.

Very few stations that bought the September book. It appears to us that fewer noncom stations in Diary markets are subscribing to the ratings

These markets are measured by Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) and a new “book comes out 12 months are year. This requires using data from older surveys. We are now watching Rolling Trends.

CALLING RADIO GEEKS: BILL MAHER INTERVIEWS HOWARD STERN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKN4VyeApeU