Week in Review – February Week 2
This Week in Review is all about RAJAR figures; with Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw losing half a million listeners. However, radio’s future remains bright; with 90% of the adult UK population tuning in to radio every week! Additionally, we cover how effective brand advertising actually is. We have also found what the great Stevie Wonder has to say on radio’s PRO controversy!
RAJAR Figures Show Exciting Future for Radio
The Q4 2016 RAJAR figures were released last Thursday (09/02/17) and show that radio is even more relevant than ever. RAJAR announced that 48.7 million adults, or 90% of the adult UK population tune in to radio every week. This is up by approximately 445,000 adults compared to last year. Additionally, the share of all radio listening on a digital platform now stands at 45.2%. This is up by 3.5% compared with last year’s Q4 figures.
Ben Cooper – Don’t Just Count Our Listenership Figures
According to RAJAR figures, Nick Grimshaw has lost 500,000 Radio 1 listeners in the last year. However, BBC Radio 1 controller, Ben Cooper, clarified that these figures only tell “part of the story”. He explained that Radio 1 is no longer just about radio anymore; “Alongside the 10.5m listeners, our YouTube videos have received over 1.4 billion views and we have 8.7m followers across social media”.
Grimmy is actually doing better than Radio 1 as a whole; From Q3 to Q4 of 2016, Grimmy’s audience has increased from 5.25m to 5.37m listeners but Radio 1’s overall audience fell from Q3 to Q4, down by 3.2 per cent to 9.56m.
PodcastOne/Edison Study Shows Brand Advertising Effectiveness in Podcasts
PodcastOne have announced a completed research project conducted by Edison Research which aimed to measure effectiveness of brand advertising in podcasts. The study revealed that more than 60% of listeners mentioned a specific grocery brand post-campaign, up from 7% among listeners in the pre-study. Furthermore, unaided product awareness grew from the pre-study to the post-study by 47% for a financial services product, by 37% for an automobile aftermarket product and by 24% for a lawn and garden product.
Stevie Wonder Speaks Out About Radio’s PRO Controversy
Stevie Wonder has spoken about the Performing Rights Organisation controversy that radio is currently dealing with. Wonder has owned independent radio station KJLH for nearly 40 years and stated that all the work his station does to be a meaningful member of the community is “threatened if we can’t stay in business.”
Independent stations like Wonder’s are facing higher costs to play the music their audience wants to hear, but with no decent explanation of the how and why these higher costs are justified. “It almost feels like we are paying for the same thing twice. I believe strongly that businesses that make a living from the creativity of artists […] must fairly and adequately pay those artists for the right to use their art. And that goes for radio station owners like me.”
How the Big Brands are Making the Most of Mobile Ad Spend
February 14, 2017
According to BIA/Kelsey‘s new report, US mobile ad spending will grow from $33 billion in 2016 to $72 billion by 2021 (a 17 percent compound annual growth rate). Furthermore the located targeted portion of overall mobile ad spend is predicted to grow from $12.4 billion (2016) to $32.4 billion in 2021. In other words, this growth translates to 38% of mobile ad revenues today, growing to 45% by 2021.
Having seen this report, I was interested in finding out how companies were making the most of mobile ad spend.
Snapchat
Snapchat will contribute to this targeted mobile ad spend by teaming up with Nielson‘s mobile digital ad ratings unit (AdWeek). Snapchat’s advertisers will be able to buy guaranteed audiences by age and gender. This move will be giving brands another purchasing option; the other Snapchat campaign buying method, via its ads API,will remain available.
YouTube
Google have also followed trend and are making YouTube a better place for advertiser. Over 50% of YouTube views now happen on mobile, so Google are now focusing on building scalable solutions that will work across screens (Google).
Google announced on 20th January 2017 that they will be developing a new, cloud-based measurement solution over the next year. This solution will allow advertisers and agencies better insights from their YouTube campaigns. Brands will be able to reach their audience on YouTube across screens so they can gain a better understanding on their highest-value customers.
Furthermore, Google will also be investing money in targeting audiences on mobile. Information from activity associated with users’ Google accounts may be used to influence the ads those users see on YouTube. Users will continue to have control over what ads they see on YouTube.
Find out more about mobile’s advertising growth potential here.