STUDIES SHOW THAT CORE PODCAST LISTENERS MAY THINK THE SHOWS ARE “TOO DAMN LONG” • NIELSEN RATINGS FOR STATIONS IN TRANSITION

As listening to podcasts continues to grow, we are learning more about the behavior of heavy users, the “core audience.” The takeaways are that core listeners are more often male than female, tend to multitasking while listening and tend to exit shows before the first commercial break.

Civil Science [link], a for-profit podcast consulting company based in Pittsburgh, surveyed 2,334 respondents between October 2018 and January 2019, about their experience with podcasts. They found that 24% of the respondents have heard a podcast. But the behavior of core listeners may be the most valuable takeaway from the study.

Civil Science does not disclose its methodology, so keep that in mind as you consider their findings.

According to the Civil Science report, 7% of the respondents say they listen to podcasts daily and 8% said the listen weekly. These people are the podcast “core audience.” The study also found that 73% of the sample “rarely or never” access podcasts.

The survey shows men make up the largest number of daily listeners, accounting for six in ten. Weekly podcast listeners are 57% male.

According to Civil Science, only a few core podcast listeners give the show they are hearing their undivided attention. The study found that 70% core listeners multitask while listening to a show. 

The most frequent distractions are texting and visiting social media. Only 13% of core listeners said they complete attention when listening to a podcast.

How to deal with listener’s short attention spans is also a topic of a Wall Street Journal article [link] by Ellen Gamerman. Gamerman says proprietary research by WNYC shows that some people feel is that many podcasts are too damn long.

Citing proprietary research by WNYC Studios, the ideal podcast duration is around six minutes.  According to Gamerman, many listeners don’t stay around longer than the first commercial break. She says the solution is to produce Quick Podcasts.

The rationale is that short shows with frequent new episodes encourage listener loyalty better than lengthy shows with sweeping narratives.

FALL 2018 NIELSEN AUDIO RATINGS FOR PEORIA, BLOOMINGTON & DELMARVA

Frequent Spark News readers will be familiar with the stations and markets we are discussion today. The focus is on two situations where public radio stations are in transition or heading in that direction.

On the left are the Fall 2018 Diary-methodology numbers for Peoria, home of “soon to be homeless” WCBU. 

Bradley University, the licensee of WCBU, has decided to get out of day-to-day radio business. 

The cost of moving of moving the station from a campus building that will be demolished this fall was prohibitive.

Thankfully, Bradley has become more transparent about the situation. The current plan, which has yet to be finalized, is that WGLT, licensed to Illinois State University (ISU), in nearby Bloomington will be taking over WCBU’s operations. The two universities have agreed that WCBU will continue to be a “Peoria station” serving the market from a studio location in the Peoria metro.

Perhaps because of extensive news coverage of the matter, WCBU had their best “book” in recent memory. In the Fall 2018 ratings, WCBU’s AQH share was up and estimated weekly listeners were way compared to Fall 2016.

WGLT, broadcasting from Bloomington-Normal, is a factor in Peoria. However WCBU doesn’t cover Bloomington. The two cities are roughly 40 miles apart.

We also have the Nielsen Fall 2018 ratings for Bloomington, a market of around 100.000 people.

WGLT is considered an excellent Jazz station with a strong local news presence.

Perhaps the most interesting station in the market is WZND-LP [link] the student-operated station at ISU. WZND mixes ISU Redbird Sports (a big deal in Bloomington) with the latest rock tunes. 

If you want to know where the best parties are, WZND has the juice.

Delmarva Public Radio (DPR) has been called the most unhappy public radio station anywhere. 

According to a former employee who wishes to remain anonymous, for years DPR [link] has been the scene of battles between the licensee, Salisbury University, and a foundation associated with the school.

The disputes concern petty internal politics, not the basics of broadcasting. 

This situation has caused radio professionals at DPR endless grief. Good advice is neglected and people who care about serving the audience rather than the bureaucrats, are turfed or shunned.

According the recent rumors, WESM [link], licensed to Maryland’s Eastern Shore University, and officials from Salisbury University have been discussing a merger.

All five stations we have discussed today might benefit from the wisdom from Dave Edwards, CEO of WUWM at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. We paid tribute to Edwards last week [link]:

“Back in ’85 all public radio stations were heavily dependent on the federal government and state and local sources. I inherited a station that was successful for its time but 98% of the station’s budget was money that was coming in from our university or CPB. You can’t do much that way without independent support.”