ASIA

Content from BPRResearchers at Durham University have discovered something that radio programmers have known for decades…. the age we make the strongest musical connection is when the records playing on the radio get entwined with major life events in our formative teenage years.

The songs bring vivid memories flooding back in what is known as a “reminiscence bump”.The study, published in the Music & Science journal, found “a reminiscence bump in adolescence (peaking around age 14) for both ratings of the autobiographical salience of songs featured in the charts during that period and the familiarity of these songs”.The researchers said: “This suggests that memories that are central to one’s sense of identity are often inextricably associated with music. This may be related to the common tradition of coupling music with significant life events and the increased consumption and value placed on music during key periods of identity formation in adolescence.”But we programmers already knew that didn’t we!!!However, the “reminiscence bump” must be viewed objectively. Just because a song made the top ten in the charts for one week in 1991 doesn’t necessarily mean it has stood the test of time.For AC and Classic Hits stations in particular, it’s all about what holds appeal today.And that is why music research is so important to the success of any radio station.Listeners’ tastes change over time…sometimes the favourites from their youth retain their strong emotional bond….. sometimes they don’t.Let’s face it …. ask a 55 year old who is a fan of Talk radio today if they thought they’d be listening to Talk radio when they were 14!Understand what the listeners preferences are now.David Kidd […]

Content from BPROver the last few years there has been some debate about the relative merits of recall-based research vs observed behaviour data.Sadly, the debate often degenerates into a chest thumping exercise about which is superior depending on where your vested interest lies.  The observed behaviour tribe like to portray recall -based research as old fashioned and expensive, while the sample-based tribe tend to highlight the obscure sample integrity of digital and the inability of observed behaviour analytics to see outside of the box or into someone’s mind.

The reality is that both forms of research have their place and the issue is not whether one is “old, new, better or bad” but rather which tool most accurately serves what you are trying to achieve.Before we go too far down the rabbit hole it is worth defining the difference between the two methodologies for the purposes of this article.Recall based research is where questions are asked of a stratified representative sample of the marketplace.  The responses to those questions will generally cover things such as what people remember of their listening behaviour across the day/week, what they think about your radio station and your competitors and what their listening preference are (likes and dislikes).Observed behaviour data in the case of radio generally means transactional data siphoned from digital listening streams, particularly your station stream.  It normally measures such things as when users log in and log out and how long they listen for. The amount of demographic profile information available varies depending on the sophistication of your streaming providers analytics and log-in mechanics.  Observed behaviour data for podcast downloads can also be part of this.Observed behaviour research based on transactional data has been around for a very long time.  In the case of the retail industry since the invention of the cash register.  I recall pouring over millions of transactional records in various retail and FMCG projects prior to joining BPR.  The analysis involved identifying sales trends, optimal price points, credit cards used, customer flow charts and the relationship between sales and display locations or staffing levels. Recall based research in the retail context was about what could not be drawn from the transactional data such as brand insights, advertising recall, the degree of satisfaction with the shopping experience, what needed to be done better and things the customer wanted in the future.When the ability to capture digital transactional data on media and entertainment consumption came along, I was an enthusiast, even serving on one of the early committees involved in developing passive people meters.  Observed behaviour data is very sexy to play with however there is one extremely significant issue with using observed behaviour data in a strategic context for media, particularly radio.  The issue is that radio listening is mostly an emotional transaction.  The essence of radio programming is understanding the emotional transaction between your content and your listeners whether that transaction be good or bad.  The best indicator of that emotional transaction is what your listeners remember of their listening experience, what a listener remembers about your radio station reflects the emotional imprint you made on the listener.  Critically, what a listener remembers about your radio station frames their opinion of your radio station and this is reflected in two fundamental behaviours:
What they subsequently tell other people about (I don’t have to tell you how critical talk of town is)
The likelihood they will tune into your station again at their next radio listening opportunity.
It follows that the best and most effective way to measure the emotional imprint you make with a listener is what that listener recalls about your station.  Recall is the ultimate litmus test of how effective your station has been in triggering an emotional transaction.You may have a radio turned on (or an app open in the background) but that does not mean you are actually listening to that radio station or actively engaged or remembering the experience.  This is what a lot of people miss when arguing the relative merits of recall-based vs observed behaviour data when it comes to media, particularly radio.In the next instalment we will discuss in more granular detail the relative merits of both forms of research and outline the most appropriate situations to use either or both.By Wayne Clouten, BPR […]

Nicolau Santos, President of the Portuguese Public Media Service RTP, is the keynote speaker in the opening session at Radiodays Europe (RDE) 2021, which will take place in Lisbon from October 9 to 11.Santos is a former journalist with an experience of over 40 years, specialising in Economics. He is also the co-founder of two newspapers , the weekly  ‘Semanário Económico’ and the daily ‘Diário Económico’. Nicolau worked for almost two decades at the major Portuguese Weekly Newsaper, ‘Expresso’, where he served as Deputy Director. He co-hosted the weekly TV Show ‘Expresso da Meia Noite’ at SIC Notícias.During his career, Santos was also Director of the daily ‘Público‘ newspaper, working with the ANOP News Agency and several other newspapers, magazines and radio stations such as TSF and RTP Antena 1.

In 2018 was named Chairman and CEO of Lusa – the Portuguese News Agency. Since June 1, 2021, he has been the President of RTP.RDE 2021 will be a live in-person event, but it will also be available virtually, on-line.If you registered for the event in 2020 your ticket is still valid for the event in 2021. It is your choice whether to travel and attend in person or to attend the event virtually.Register here. […]

Content from BPRRadio stations are famous (well some infamous) for their April Fools Day stunts.

And so it was for Radio Windy (now The Breeze) based in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington.The promotions department at Radio Windy came up with what they thought would be an hilarious April Fools Day promotion.The idea was that the Inter Island Ferry linking the country’s North Island to the South Island would be running free joy rides on April 1.Now the catch was that these joy rides weren’t starting from the ferry terminal but from the large international dock where the cruise ships departed.This was a big event (if it were actually going to happen).The promotions team and a few of the presenters were there at the international dock ready to greet the gullible listeners with some free giveaways and a big April Fools day joke sign.It was a great laugh……. until a bus turned up full of disabled children who had travelled over two hours to be there.Of course the local paper, television stations and radio competitors had a field day.The promotions manager kept his job……well “a” job…. he was quickly dispatched back to the copy department.David Kidd […]

Content from BPRWouldn’t you like to know what your target audience is really listening to? Traditional radio ratings services measure just one thing – radio listening. That was fine in the days when radio dominated the audio listening landscape. However, as times have changed, audio usage measurement has not. Podcasts, streaming, You Tube, downloaded music and audio books now account for a huge amount of audio usage. (We include You Tube because many people listen to music via You Tube but do not necessarily watch the videos even when they are available.)

The days when “the competition” was coming mostly from other local broadcast radio stations are over. Today, competition from non-radio audio services continues to eat up more and more of the listening time once dominated by radio.Television viewing habits have also changed. TV broadcasters are well aware that their viewers are using a wide variety of video sources. Nielsen Research in the US is now refining its television ratings service to cover the entire range of video consumption. The so-called “single measurement solution” has taken hold because advertisers are demanding a more complete picture of their target audience’s video consumption habits.This begs the question: Why not radio? How can radio broadcasters compete against other audio media if they do not even know what their target listeners are really doing with their media consumption time? A recent article in the BPR Newsletter reminded us of the famous quote by Sun Tzu that says “know thy enemy.” Those do not know their real competition are at a loss to effectively compete with them.A key issue in the 21st century is knowing who your competitors really are.  Debate about radio survey results often involves discussions about which stations gained and which stations lost.  People will say that station X lost audience to station Y.  This may be true in terms of the relative distribution of radio listening as measured within the radio listening box but that does not necessarily mean that station X actually lost listeners to station Y.  BPR’s All Audio studies reveal that many radio stations, especially music stations, are competing a lot more with other forms of audio than other radio stations.  Much of the statistical movement we see in radio surveys has nothing to do with an exchange of TSL between radio stations but rather between a radio station and other forms of audio.Fortunately, there is a solution to the question of radio vs. non-radio audio sources. BPR’s All-Audio Measurement program provides a wide range of insights into audio consumption in any given market. Here are just a few examples:
Map usage of radio and other audio services across the day showing when people move from and when they return to radio.
Identify why audio users move from radio and why they return.
Develop profiles of persons who use only radio and those who use multiple audio sources including radio.
Measure a station’s level of vulnerability to competition from other audio sources.
Create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) for a specific radio station relative to other forms of audio.
In summary, BPR’s All-Audio Measurement program helps radio operators to achieve specific goals:
A programming and promotional plan to boost listener retention.
Identify investment opportunities whereby your station’s brand can logically extend to other audio services such as alternate music streams and podcasts.
Provide a broad view of radio listening in the context of all total audio consumption in the market.
Create a vision for the future by helping radio operators to build on radio’s strengths. The future does not have to be doom and gloom. Viewed with a new perspective, radio’s future may be more promising that you may have imagined.
By Wayne Clouten & Andy Beaubien, BPRIf you or your station would like to enquire further about BPR’s All-Audio Measurement Program please contact us at [email protected] […]

SYOK has announced the winners of the ‘Anugerah Podcast SYOK Merdeka Edition’, an online contest for podcast submissions held from 16 August to 5 September on SYOK.One winning podcast each across English, Malay and Tamil language categories were selected based on the highest listenership received during the contest period. The winners for each category took home a RM1,000 cash prize and a trophy.The winners for each category are as follows:

English language: Shenoj Kuruvilla Vadekethu and Ivory Anne Butlar Madden, two best friends spill the ‘cha’ about Malaysia in ‘What’s in cha-resting about Malaysia’ podcast.Malay language: Mohd Azree bin Mohd Ariffin and Mohammad Hafiz bin Abdul Latif, talk about what makes Malaysia a country of its own, with podcast titled ‘Membilang Syukur, Menghitung Nikmat’.Tamil language: Santhananathan A/L Jeganathan, Hindravel Chandrabose, Sudhankumar A/L Silvakumar, Saara binti Ismail Gani, Anbanathan A/L Poonga (Paul) and Nireshan A/L Nadarayajan, offer insightful discussions about Malaysia in podcast ‘My Tamil Comedy Club – What’s Interesting About Malaysia’.There will be a live stream of an appreciation event for the winners which will also reveal insights and sharing of their podcast production journeys on September 30 at 8.30pm via the SYOK podcast Facebook and Instagram. […]