Thursday, August 19. 2010
Enjoy playing Foursquare, but only in moderation.
Posted by Russell Goldsmith
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As a member of the IAB Social Media Council, I posted the following entry on their blog this week - www.iabuksocial.co.uk . . .
Earlier this week I checked into Sa Fàbrica de Gelats on Foursquare to let my friends know that I’ve just bought one of their speciality Orange ice creams whilst in Soller in Mallorca on holiday.
Now, why they would care to know that is another debate! The reason I did it, however, is because as part of my job, I’m still trying to understand the benefit this latest alleged Social Media star can have to my clients, and at the moment, I’m still struggling to find the answer.
I’ve spent a good six months ‘playing’ on Foursquare, going through the similar patterns as many others – checking in to everything I could, realising that on some occasions, I’m not checking in to the official pages of said venues, taking pleasure at becoming mayor of my company, and even the IAB for a day, and then realising the few friends I had in the game are people doing something similar to me for a living, i.e. those in the industry trying it out too, and I assume, similarly getting bored, by the frequency of their check-ins drying up! In fact, the lack of interest from those outside of the industry highlights half the problem. Back in April, I had the unfortunate pleasure of going to support Spurs in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley and watching them lose to a bankrupt Portsmouth. I checked in to the Stadium on Foursquare to see how popular it would be from a decent sample of 90,000 people in one location, and there were a total of 7 players checked in, one was me, and 2 others I knew! The warning signs were there already.
However, as I’ve read with interest the stories about Foursquare looking to raise money, I’ve continue to think there must be a benefit to it to a brand’s marketing. So it was that I recently tried to claim ownership of a page that had already been set up for my company – misspelt I might add - and set up a page of our own for Studio1 in our office. In fairness, Foursquare were quick to respond that I now managed the page I set up, but the one already in existence – an unofficial page for my company markettiers4dc – still exists and still has someone unconnected to my company managing it.
With this in mind, I then looked at testing how to monitor and moderate any comments/tips that are added to my page before recommending it to a major client of ours for a campaign we were planning. After all, given another flaw in the Foursquare game being that one doesn’t even have to be in the venue itself to check-in, any passer-by to my office could add any tip they want about Studio1 – positive or negative. Now I know the whole point of social media is to allow a freedom of dialogue, but I’m only interested in what actual visitors of ours have to say about their experience in our studio, not any random person who hasn’t even stepped inside our reception. I therefore contacted Foursquare to ask about how I could moderate my official page. Here’s the official response:
Are you kidding me? I have to send comments that I am not happy about on my own page to Foursquare to decide if they should remain on there or not!
Decision made! Foursquare, you need to seriously consider your strategy if you want my budgets. Quite timely, therefore, that this week I’ve read more and more stories about Facebook setting itself up as a geolocation challenger - http://mash.to/2nZKq. Oh dear Foursquare, if Facebook really did offer you around $120 million or so to acquire you, why oh why not take the cash and Foursquare off?
Russell Goldsmith
@russgoldsmith
Earlier this week I checked into Sa Fàbrica de Gelats on Foursquare to let my friends know that I’ve just bought one of their speciality Orange ice creams whilst in Soller in Mallorca on holiday.
Now, why they would care to know that is another debate! The reason I did it, however, is because as part of my job, I’m still trying to understand the benefit this latest alleged Social Media star can have to my clients, and at the moment, I’m still struggling to find the answer.
I’ve spent a good six months ‘playing’ on Foursquare, going through the similar patterns as many others – checking in to everything I could, realising that on some occasions, I’m not checking in to the official pages of said venues, taking pleasure at becoming mayor of my company, and even the IAB for a day, and then realising the few friends I had in the game are people doing something similar to me for a living, i.e. those in the industry trying it out too, and I assume, similarly getting bored, by the frequency of their check-ins drying up! In fact, the lack of interest from those outside of the industry highlights half the problem. Back in April, I had the unfortunate pleasure of going to support Spurs in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley and watching them lose to a bankrupt Portsmouth. I checked in to the Stadium on Foursquare to see how popular it would be from a decent sample of 90,000 people in one location, and there were a total of 7 players checked in, one was me, and 2 others I knew! The warning signs were there already.
However, as I’ve read with interest the stories about Foursquare looking to raise money, I’ve continue to think there must be a benefit to it to a brand’s marketing. So it was that I recently tried to claim ownership of a page that had already been set up for my company – misspelt I might add - and set up a page of our own for Studio1 in our office. In fairness, Foursquare were quick to respond that I now managed the page I set up, but the one already in existence – an unofficial page for my company markettiers4dc – still exists and still has someone unconnected to my company managing it.
With this in mind, I then looked at testing how to monitor and moderate any comments/tips that are added to my page before recommending it to a major client of ours for a campaign we were planning. After all, given another flaw in the Foursquare game being that one doesn’t even have to be in the venue itself to check-in, any passer-by to my office could add any tip they want about Studio1 – positive or negative. Now I know the whole point of social media is to allow a freedom of dialogue, but I’m only interested in what actual visitors of ours have to say about their experience in our studio, not any random person who hasn’t even stepped inside our reception. I therefore contacted Foursquare to ask about how I could moderate my official page. Here’s the official response:
Only we can delete tips and will only do so if they are using profanity or for another misuse. You can bring those to our attention at bizhelp@foursquare.com always.
Are you kidding me? I have to send comments that I am not happy about on my own page to Foursquare to decide if they should remain on there or not!
Decision made! Foursquare, you need to seriously consider your strategy if you want my budgets. Quite timely, therefore, that this week I’ve read more and more stories about Facebook setting itself up as a geolocation challenger - http://mash.to/2nZKq. Oh dear Foursquare, if Facebook really did offer you around $120 million or so to acquire you, why oh why not take the cash and Foursquare off?
Russell Goldsmith
@russgoldsmith
Friday, August 6. 2010
The Rajar reports are the radio industry’s version of the TV BARB panel. A panel of listeners complete a daily questionnaire recording which radio stations they listen to and for how long. These results are published on a quarterly basis. From Q2 2007 listeners have been able to tell RAJAR if they listened on AM/FM, DAB Digital Radio, Digital TV (Sky/Freeview/Cable) or via the Internet.
General Overview
Radio achieved a record reach of 46.8 million people, or 91% of the UK adult population, listening to a station for at least five minutes during the course of an average week. Commercial radio's reach was 32.8 million people – this is the 4th consecutive quarter of growth for commercial radio and its highest reach in the last decade.
Commercial radio increased its share from 41.3% in Q1 to 43.2% in Q2. In contrast the BBC saw its share fall from 56.5% in Q1 to 54.6% in Q2. The BBC’s reach fell from 34.88m to 34.59m.
National Radio
The three National commercial stations all had good results. talkSPORT benefitted from their World Cup coverage, recording their highest ever weekly reach for Q2, and their second highest reach of all time (2.5 million reach). They recorded record figures for 15-34men (744,000 reach, up 14% yoy), abc1ads (1.4m, up 8%) & abc1men (1.1m).
Classic FM is still the largest commercial station in the UK with 5.7m weekly listeners – this is up on Q1 but down slightly year on year. Absolute Radio’s network reach is back up to over 2 million listeners – the highest since January 2009. This is still 500,000 behind talkSPORT but is up 11% on Q1 & 8% yoy. They benefitted from their World Cup activity fronted by Baddiel & Skinner – this bodes well for their new Premiership coverage in the upcoming season.
The London Market
Magic 105.4’s crown has slipped as the largest London reaching station, as Heart 106.2 have pipped them to the post with 2.185 million listeners per week vs. 2.046 million. However, Magic still put in a very strong performance seeing their London market share grow to 6.4% vs. Hearts 5.1% to put them in top position. Heart recorded their highest ever reach.
The interesting story is not the battle for the top spot but Kiss 100’s performance; they are 11.8% up year on year with a reach of 1.848 million and an impressive growth in share from 4.1% to 5.6%. 95.8 Capital Radio grew their reach by 21,000. Not such a positive result however for their share as they have slipped from 6% to 4.9%.
LBC saw a growth of 82,000 listeners; their reach is their highest since 1994. Absolute’s London reach has grown 17% and hours are up 12% on quarter.
Reach (000’s) Q2 2010 Market Share % Q2 2010
1 Heart 106.2 FM 2,185 1 Magic 105.4 6.4
2 Magic 105.4 2,046 2 Kiss 100 5.6
3 95.8 Capital FM 1,921 3 Heart 106.2 5.1
4 Kiss 100 1,848 4 LBC 97.3 5.0
5 Classic FM (London) 1,308 5 95.8 Captial FM 4.9
6 LBC 97.3 960 6 Classic FM (London) 4.3
7 Total Absolute (Ldn) 821 7 Total Absolute (Ldn) 2.8
8 talkSPORT (London) 613 8 talkSPORT (London) 1.8
9 XFM 104.9 553 9 XFM 104.9 1.4
10 Smooth Radio 415 10 Gold London 1.3
London Breakfast
The Sony award-winning Capital breakfast show has once again retained the number one spot at breakfast in the London commercial market; however the gap between their rivals is narrowing with Heart and Kiss hot on Capital’s heels. Heart, Kiss and Magic all saw impressive increases in reach whilst LBC remained flat at 576,000 weekly listeners.
What is interesting is the market share for London breakfast shows, the playing field much like the reach is evening out in stark comparison to the previous quarter.
REACH 15+ (6-9 am) MARKET SHARE 15+ (6-9 am)
Q2 2010 (000’s) Q2 2010 (%)
1 95.8 Capital Radio 933 1 95.8 Capital Radio 5.7
2 Heart 106.2 FM 925 2 LBC 97.3 5.5
3 Kiss 100 903 3 Kiss 100 5.4
4 Magic 105.4 839 4 Heart 106.2 FM 5.2
5 LBC 97.3 576 5 Magic 105.4 4.6
Kiss FM’s Rickie, Melvin and Charlie breakfast show has gone from strength to strength with reach up from 656,000 to 903,000 listeners.
Local Radio
Global Radio, the UK’s largest commercial radio group, continues to dominate the top 10 commercial station networks with Heart in pole position once more – it is unchanged in terms of market share on quarter, at 5.8%, and down 0.1% on the year, having achieved 5.9% in Q2 2009. Heart East Midlands in particular is at its highest level at 19 per cent reach now with 423,000 listeners, up from 350,000 last quarter.
Bauer Radio now reaches a record audience for the network, with 13 million listeners each week. The Magic network now reaches a total audience of 3.7m across the UK – up 2.6% on year, and the Kiss network now reaches 3.7m listeners – up 13% on year. Big City network recorded its highest reach in over 3 years, with 4.8m people now tuning in every week (up 5% on the quarter) and 42m listening hours (up 2% on the quarter). Notably CFM has increased from 33 per cent reach to 43 per cent reach year-on-year, and Radio Aire in Leeds jumped from 11 per cent reach to 16 per cent suddenly, adding almost 50,000 listeners.
GMG has seen positive results, with the group reporting almost five million listeners in total and Smooth Radio North East, North West and Glasgow recording their biggest ever audience figures in what will be their last quarter with local programmes. All real radio stations except Yorkshire are up, with 2.38 million adults tuning into Real Radio network each week (up 100,000 on the quarter) to consume 21.5 million hours each week (up 200,000 on the quarter).
The 10 commercial station networks in terms of % market share:
Station Q2 2010 Q1 2010 Q22009
1 Heart Network (UK) (H) 5.8 5.8 5.9
2 Classic FM (Q) 3.8 3.7 3.9
3 Galaxy Network (UK) (H) 2.7 2.6 2.5
4 Total Magic (Q) 2.4 2.4 2.5
5 Total Real Radio (H) 2.1 2.1 2.1
6 Total Smooth Radio (H) 2.1 2.1 2.1
7 talkSPORT (Q) 1.7 1.6 1.8
8 Total Kiss Network (H) 1.9 1.7 1.9
9 Total LBC (UK) (H) 1.3 1.3 1.1
10 Total Absolute Radio Network
(Q) 1.4 1.4 1.3
Digital
Digital posted strong results this quarter, with listening share up 17% yoy to 24.6%, weekly reach up 11% to 20 million, listening hours up 17% to 253 million per week, and DAB ownership up 7.6%, to over 18 million adults. DAB radio is still the most popular device to listen to digital radio on, but DTV and Internet listening have risen significantly. Listening via digital TV is now at 4.1%, with internet at 2.9%. Radio listening via mobile phone remains steady with 12.5% of adults listening via their mobile; in the younger 15-24 year demographic, this rises to 29.8%. Many radio stations are now providing Smartphone apps to enhance the mobile phone listening experience, and a recent RAJAR study found that 20% of all Smartphone owners have a radio app.
Absolute Radio continues to outperform the digital market average, with 45.7% of their listening being on a digital platform. Absolute 80s posted another strong set of results, increasing by just over 9% in reach (to 288,000) and hours. Absolute Classic Rock also performed strongly, also increasing reach and hours by 9%. Planet Rock increased reach by 4% to its highest ever reach of 718,000. Podcasts also proved very popular, with Absolute having 3 million podcasts downloaded in June. Absolute expect to see further growth in Q3, as Absolute 90s and Absolute Extra are added to their figures.
Over at Bauer, 3 of their digital stations remain in the top 10. The Hits was up 8% with over 1.1m listeners and along with Smash Hits on 990,000 listeners, are the 2 most listened to commercial digital only stations. Heat also had a very strong result, with 50.3% rise in reach since Q1. NME Radio, recently at risk from complete closure, has doubled its audience share with a rise in overall hours to 1.3m. New owners Town and Country Broadcasting were pleased with the results, seeing them as “a solid base with a strong audience profile”.
Over on the BBC, 6 Music saw another very strong result following news that the BBC Trust has reprieved its closure – it is now the largest digital radio station in the UK. Its reach increased by 100.7% yoy to almost 1.2m, whilst hours increased by 31% to over 10m, making it only marginally smaller than Radio 3. BBC Asian Network, which is still facing closure, also posted a rise in listenership with an increase in reach of 3.8% to 437,000 listeners. Other BBC stations didn’t fare so well, with Radio 5 Live Sports Extra being down 19.1% yoy despite the World Cup, and 1 Xtra’s audience down 5.4% yoy to 600,000.
Consistent growth in digital listening is key to the digital radio switchover agenda over the next few years, as one of the criteria the government has set for switchover is for digital to account for at least 50% of all radio listening.
Reach 15+ (000s)
QonQ YonY Q2 2010 Q1 2010 Q2 2009
1 BBC 6 Music (Q) 16.7 100.7 1,194 1,023 595
2 The Hits (Q) 7.9 -8.4 1,138 1,055 1,243
3 Smash Hits Radio (Q) 16.1 -14.3 990 853 1,155
4 BBC7 (Q) -9.5 13.8 949 1,049 834
5 Planet Rock (Q) 3.5 1.3 718 694 709
6 Heat (Q) 50.3 17.5 672 447 572
7 1Xtra from the BBC (Q) -9.5 -5.4 600 663 634
8 Jazz (Q) -1.7 -3.9 463 471 482
9 BBC Asian Network 22.4 3.8 437 357 421
10 NME (Q) 11.9 17.7 253 226 215
BBC
As UK radio listening surged to its highest level for more than a decade in the three months to the end of June, the BBC also benefited from the period that included the general election campaign and alliance-building period, and the World Cup.
Reach (000’s) Q2 2010 Q2 2009
BBC Radio 2 13729 13424
BBC Radio 1 11810 11342
BBC Radio 4 10403 9999
Five Live 6763 6415
BBC Radio 3 1858 2021
Radio 5 Live reported its biggest audience since its launch in 1990, with a weekly reach of 6.76 million listeners, up 5.4% year on year and 4.4% quarter on quarter. Its share was 4.8%, and clearly benefited from both the political and sporting news being at the top of many listener’s agendas.
Radio 4 broke through the 10 million listener barrier, with a record average weekly audience of 10.4 million between April and June, with its best ever audiences for shows including Today, PM and The Archers. The station's weekly audience was up 4% year on year and 3.7% on the last quarter, with a share of 12.5%. This was Radio 4's best quarterly figure since Rajar's new methodology in 1999; the station had a 12.5% share.
Radio 4's Today pulled in a record 6.98 million weekly listeners. Record audiences were also achieved by other Radio 4 news shows including the Six O'Clock News and PM.
Radio 1 pulled in a record audience of 11.81 million listeners, up 4.1% year on year and 0.6% quarter on quarter. The station's share was 9.3%. Chris Moyles
Radio 2 attracted 13.73 million listeners on average each week, up 2.3% year on year but down 5.8% quarter on quarter. Its share was 15.9%: Chris Evans didn’t contribute to this, having lost 1 million of Radio 2’s Breakfast listeners Q-o-Q, but he’s still doing better than Sir Tel. His figures are still the second highest total ever recorded for an individual radio programme with a weekly reach of 8.25m (down for 9.53m in Q1).
There was less positive news at BBC Radio 3, which reported an average audience of 1.86 million, down 8.1% year on year and 8.2% quarter on quarter.
Summary
This was a great set of results for radio in general and especially for commercial radio. Radio listening has increased to its 2nd consecutive all time high, and the BBC/Commercial split has swung 2 points in favour of commercial radio’s favour.
The individual success stories are talkSPORT and their hugely popular World Cup coverage, Kiss FM who are now No.2 in London in terms of share, BBC 6 Music becoming the most popular digital radio station in the UK and the BBC talk stations, with Radio 4 & Five Live capitalising on the popularity of the World Cup and General Election.
General Overview
Radio achieved a record reach of 46.8 million people, or 91% of the UK adult population, listening to a station for at least five minutes during the course of an average week. Commercial radio's reach was 32.8 million people – this is the 4th consecutive quarter of growth for commercial radio and its highest reach in the last decade.
Commercial radio increased its share from 41.3% in Q1 to 43.2% in Q2. In contrast the BBC saw its share fall from 56.5% in Q1 to 54.6% in Q2. The BBC’s reach fell from 34.88m to 34.59m.
National Radio
The three National commercial stations all had good results. talkSPORT benefitted from their World Cup coverage, recording their highest ever weekly reach for Q2, and their second highest reach of all time (2.5 million reach). They recorded record figures for 15-34men (744,000 reach, up 14% yoy), abc1ads (1.4m, up 8%) & abc1men (1.1m).
Classic FM is still the largest commercial station in the UK with 5.7m weekly listeners – this is up on Q1 but down slightly year on year. Absolute Radio’s network reach is back up to over 2 million listeners – the highest since January 2009. This is still 500,000 behind talkSPORT but is up 11% on Q1 & 8% yoy. They benefitted from their World Cup activity fronted by Baddiel & Skinner – this bodes well for their new Premiership coverage in the upcoming season.
The London Market
Magic 105.4’s crown has slipped as the largest London reaching station, as Heart 106.2 have pipped them to the post with 2.185 million listeners per week vs. 2.046 million. However, Magic still put in a very strong performance seeing their London market share grow to 6.4% vs. Hearts 5.1% to put them in top position. Heart recorded their highest ever reach.
The interesting story is not the battle for the top spot but Kiss 100’s performance; they are 11.8% up year on year with a reach of 1.848 million and an impressive growth in share from 4.1% to 5.6%. 95.8 Capital Radio grew their reach by 21,000. Not such a positive result however for their share as they have slipped from 6% to 4.9%.
LBC saw a growth of 82,000 listeners; their reach is their highest since 1994. Absolute’s London reach has grown 17% and hours are up 12% on quarter.
Reach (000’s) Q2 2010 Market Share % Q2 2010
1 Heart 106.2 FM 2,185 1 Magic 105.4 6.4
2 Magic 105.4 2,046 2 Kiss 100 5.6
3 95.8 Capital FM 1,921 3 Heart 106.2 5.1
4 Kiss 100 1,848 4 LBC 97.3 5.0
5 Classic FM (London) 1,308 5 95.8 Captial FM 4.9
6 LBC 97.3 960 6 Classic FM (London) 4.3
7 Total Absolute (Ldn) 821 7 Total Absolute (Ldn) 2.8
8 talkSPORT (London) 613 8 talkSPORT (London) 1.8
9 XFM 104.9 553 9 XFM 104.9 1.4
10 Smooth Radio 415 10 Gold London 1.3
London Breakfast
The Sony award-winning Capital breakfast show has once again retained the number one spot at breakfast in the London commercial market; however the gap between their rivals is narrowing with Heart and Kiss hot on Capital’s heels. Heart, Kiss and Magic all saw impressive increases in reach whilst LBC remained flat at 576,000 weekly listeners.
What is interesting is the market share for London breakfast shows, the playing field much like the reach is evening out in stark comparison to the previous quarter.
REACH 15+ (6-9 am) MARKET SHARE 15+ (6-9 am)
Q2 2010 (000’s) Q2 2010 (%)
1 95.8 Capital Radio 933 1 95.8 Capital Radio 5.7
2 Heart 106.2 FM 925 2 LBC 97.3 5.5
3 Kiss 100 903 3 Kiss 100 5.4
4 Magic 105.4 839 4 Heart 106.2 FM 5.2
5 LBC 97.3 576 5 Magic 105.4 4.6
Kiss FM’s Rickie, Melvin and Charlie breakfast show has gone from strength to strength with reach up from 656,000 to 903,000 listeners.
Local Radio
Global Radio, the UK’s largest commercial radio group, continues to dominate the top 10 commercial station networks with Heart in pole position once more – it is unchanged in terms of market share on quarter, at 5.8%, and down 0.1% on the year, having achieved 5.9% in Q2 2009. Heart East Midlands in particular is at its highest level at 19 per cent reach now with 423,000 listeners, up from 350,000 last quarter.
Bauer Radio now reaches a record audience for the network, with 13 million listeners each week. The Magic network now reaches a total audience of 3.7m across the UK – up 2.6% on year, and the Kiss network now reaches 3.7m listeners – up 13% on year. Big City network recorded its highest reach in over 3 years, with 4.8m people now tuning in every week (up 5% on the quarter) and 42m listening hours (up 2% on the quarter). Notably CFM has increased from 33 per cent reach to 43 per cent reach year-on-year, and Radio Aire in Leeds jumped from 11 per cent reach to 16 per cent suddenly, adding almost 50,000 listeners.
GMG has seen positive results, with the group reporting almost five million listeners in total and Smooth Radio North East, North West and Glasgow recording their biggest ever audience figures in what will be their last quarter with local programmes. All real radio stations except Yorkshire are up, with 2.38 million adults tuning into Real Radio network each week (up 100,000 on the quarter) to consume 21.5 million hours each week (up 200,000 on the quarter).
The 10 commercial station networks in terms of % market share:
Station Q2 2010 Q1 2010 Q22009
1 Heart Network (UK) (H) 5.8 5.8 5.9
2 Classic FM (Q) 3.8 3.7 3.9
3 Galaxy Network (UK) (H) 2.7 2.6 2.5
4 Total Magic (Q) 2.4 2.4 2.5
5 Total Real Radio (H) 2.1 2.1 2.1
6 Total Smooth Radio (H) 2.1 2.1 2.1
7 talkSPORT (Q) 1.7 1.6 1.8
8 Total Kiss Network (H) 1.9 1.7 1.9
9 Total LBC (UK) (H) 1.3 1.3 1.1
10 Total Absolute Radio Network
(Q) 1.4 1.4 1.3
Digital
Digital posted strong results this quarter, with listening share up 17% yoy to 24.6%, weekly reach up 11% to 20 million, listening hours up 17% to 253 million per week, and DAB ownership up 7.6%, to over 18 million adults. DAB radio is still the most popular device to listen to digital radio on, but DTV and Internet listening have risen significantly. Listening via digital TV is now at 4.1%, with internet at 2.9%. Radio listening via mobile phone remains steady with 12.5% of adults listening via their mobile; in the younger 15-24 year demographic, this rises to 29.8%. Many radio stations are now providing Smartphone apps to enhance the mobile phone listening experience, and a recent RAJAR study found that 20% of all Smartphone owners have a radio app.
Absolute Radio continues to outperform the digital market average, with 45.7% of their listening being on a digital platform. Absolute 80s posted another strong set of results, increasing by just over 9% in reach (to 288,000) and hours. Absolute Classic Rock also performed strongly, also increasing reach and hours by 9%. Planet Rock increased reach by 4% to its highest ever reach of 718,000. Podcasts also proved very popular, with Absolute having 3 million podcasts downloaded in June. Absolute expect to see further growth in Q3, as Absolute 90s and Absolute Extra are added to their figures.
Over at Bauer, 3 of their digital stations remain in the top 10. The Hits was up 8% with over 1.1m listeners and along with Smash Hits on 990,000 listeners, are the 2 most listened to commercial digital only stations. Heat also had a very strong result, with 50.3% rise in reach since Q1. NME Radio, recently at risk from complete closure, has doubled its audience share with a rise in overall hours to 1.3m. New owners Town and Country Broadcasting were pleased with the results, seeing them as “a solid base with a strong audience profile”.
Over on the BBC, 6 Music saw another very strong result following news that the BBC Trust has reprieved its closure – it is now the largest digital radio station in the UK. Its reach increased by 100.7% yoy to almost 1.2m, whilst hours increased by 31% to over 10m, making it only marginally smaller than Radio 3. BBC Asian Network, which is still facing closure, also posted a rise in listenership with an increase in reach of 3.8% to 437,000 listeners. Other BBC stations didn’t fare so well, with Radio 5 Live Sports Extra being down 19.1% yoy despite the World Cup, and 1 Xtra’s audience down 5.4% yoy to 600,000.
Consistent growth in digital listening is key to the digital radio switchover agenda over the next few years, as one of the criteria the government has set for switchover is for digital to account for at least 50% of all radio listening.
Reach 15+ (000s)
QonQ YonY Q2 2010 Q1 2010 Q2 2009
1 BBC 6 Music (Q) 16.7 100.7 1,194 1,023 595
2 The Hits (Q) 7.9 -8.4 1,138 1,055 1,243
3 Smash Hits Radio (Q) 16.1 -14.3 990 853 1,155
4 BBC7 (Q) -9.5 13.8 949 1,049 834
5 Planet Rock (Q) 3.5 1.3 718 694 709
6 Heat (Q) 50.3 17.5 672 447 572
7 1Xtra from the BBC (Q) -9.5 -5.4 600 663 634
8 Jazz (Q) -1.7 -3.9 463 471 482
9 BBC Asian Network 22.4 3.8 437 357 421
10 NME (Q) 11.9 17.7 253 226 215
BBC
As UK radio listening surged to its highest level for more than a decade in the three months to the end of June, the BBC also benefited from the period that included the general election campaign and alliance-building period, and the World Cup.
Reach (000’s) Q2 2010 Q2 2009
BBC Radio 2 13729 13424
BBC Radio 1 11810 11342
BBC Radio 4 10403 9999
Five Live 6763 6415
BBC Radio 3 1858 2021
Radio 5 Live reported its biggest audience since its launch in 1990, with a weekly reach of 6.76 million listeners, up 5.4% year on year and 4.4% quarter on quarter. Its share was 4.8%, and clearly benefited from both the political and sporting news being at the top of many listener’s agendas.
Radio 4 broke through the 10 million listener barrier, with a record average weekly audience of 10.4 million between April and June, with its best ever audiences for shows including Today, PM and The Archers. The station's weekly audience was up 4% year on year and 3.7% on the last quarter, with a share of 12.5%. This was Radio 4's best quarterly figure since Rajar's new methodology in 1999; the station had a 12.5% share.
Radio 4's Today pulled in a record 6.98 million weekly listeners. Record audiences were also achieved by other Radio 4 news shows including the Six O'Clock News and PM.
Radio 1 pulled in a record audience of 11.81 million listeners, up 4.1% year on year and 0.6% quarter on quarter. The station's share was 9.3%. Chris Moyles
Radio 2 attracted 13.73 million listeners on average each week, up 2.3% year on year but down 5.8% quarter on quarter. Its share was 15.9%: Chris Evans didn’t contribute to this, having lost 1 million of Radio 2’s Breakfast listeners Q-o-Q, but he’s still doing better than Sir Tel. His figures are still the second highest total ever recorded for an individual radio programme with a weekly reach of 8.25m (down for 9.53m in Q1).
There was less positive news at BBC Radio 3, which reported an average audience of 1.86 million, down 8.1% year on year and 8.2% quarter on quarter.
Summary
This was a great set of results for radio in general and especially for commercial radio. Radio listening has increased to its 2nd consecutive all time high, and the BBC/Commercial split has swung 2 points in favour of commercial radio’s favour.
The individual success stories are talkSPORT and their hugely popular World Cup coverage, Kiss FM who are now No.2 in London in terms of share, BBC 6 Music becoming the most popular digital radio station in the UK and the BBC talk stations, with Radio 4 & Five Live capitalising on the popularity of the World Cup and General Election.
Tuesday, July 20. 2010
Taken from this month's issue of Onward.
Oh the irony. I’ve been asked to write an article on how we are integrating social media into our business, and like the people who brought us Twitter, my Onward editor has limited my word count!
I’ll therefore spare the statistics as I think we all now know just how much social media is taking over the consumer media diet and instead, I’ll get straight onto where we see a new opportunity for brands to embrace two areas of the markettiers4dc group business that we have so much passion about, Broadcast and Research.
No matter which social network you happen to favour, the one consistency in this increasingly important space, is that people like to share their opinions in a live environment, creating discussion and debate. So it’s quite handy that we have a research agency called Opinion Matters and a TV studio that allows us to create live broadcast content for people who are engaged online to talk about.
Welcome to Social Media TV research.
Monitoring discussion within social media about your brand and knowing when to respond, or when to just listen, has become a key part of the ongoing communications mix. But finding out about conversations on the likes of Twitter, Facebook etc is a reactive process. So how beneficial would it be to embrace the technology that consumers enjoy, i.e., the live conversation, but be proactive by inviting them to join in with a live debate. This whilst all the while engaged by the other aspect of online that they enjoy doing - watching video, now made a daily experience for most of us.
Opinion Matters Live! (OMLive!) is a service that is now coming into its own. It gives clients the chance to replace the age old tactic of traipsing up and down the country in numerous viewing facilities and hotel rooms organising focus groups. Instead, in one evening, they can invite a group of screened individuals to watch, what is in effect, a live online TV show; broadcast from our studio, with the participants answering quantitative and qualitative questions that appear on their screen during the broadcast. The results of those questions are analysed immediately and can be viewed by brand observers anywhere in the world as they too can take part online. At the same time, viewers can join in an ongoing debate in a moderated discussion board that sits on the same page.
This is exactly what The Blue Door did for their software client that wanted feedback for a new product launch in May. We invited 30 respondents, predominantly parents, from across the UK to log on and join us for a 40min live show with the objective of getting feedback about potential new advertising creatives and website design pre-launch.
At the end of the session, we asked our live panel for their feedback on what it was like to take part in the process.
The response was tremendous –
here’s what some of them said about the event:
“Hi, I’m new to this and really enjoying this format”
“Hi - Just to say I love this way of research - works really well for me - do invite me if you do it again!”
“Enjoyng it, very interesting giving live opinions”
Take it from someone who was sat in the studio gallery watching these responses come through, this is a fantastic and exciting way for a brand to embrace Social Media . . . and we even allow our live participants to tell us what they think in more than 140 characters!
For more information on OMLive! go to: http://bit.ly/tvresearch
Oh the irony. I’ve been asked to write an article on how we are integrating social media into our business, and like the people who brought us Twitter, my Onward editor has limited my word count!
I’ll therefore spare the statistics as I think we all now know just how much social media is taking over the consumer media diet and instead, I’ll get straight onto where we see a new opportunity for brands to embrace two areas of the markettiers4dc group business that we have so much passion about, Broadcast and Research.
No matter which social network you happen to favour, the one consistency in this increasingly important space, is that people like to share their opinions in a live environment, creating discussion and debate. So it’s quite handy that we have a research agency called Opinion Matters and a TV studio that allows us to create live broadcast content for people who are engaged online to talk about.
Welcome to Social Media TV research.
Monitoring discussion within social media about your brand and knowing when to respond, or when to just listen, has become a key part of the ongoing communications mix. But finding out about conversations on the likes of Twitter, Facebook etc is a reactive process. So how beneficial would it be to embrace the technology that consumers enjoy, i.e., the live conversation, but be proactive by inviting them to join in with a live debate. This whilst all the while engaged by the other aspect of online that they enjoy doing - watching video, now made a daily experience for most of us.
Opinion Matters Live! (OMLive!) is a service that is now coming into its own. It gives clients the chance to replace the age old tactic of traipsing up and down the country in numerous viewing facilities and hotel rooms organising focus groups. Instead, in one evening, they can invite a group of screened individuals to watch, what is in effect, a live online TV show; broadcast from our studio, with the participants answering quantitative and qualitative questions that appear on their screen during the broadcast. The results of those questions are analysed immediately and can be viewed by brand observers anywhere in the world as they too can take part online. At the same time, viewers can join in an ongoing debate in a moderated discussion board that sits on the same page.
This is exactly what The Blue Door did for their software client that wanted feedback for a new product launch in May. We invited 30 respondents, predominantly parents, from across the UK to log on and join us for a 40min live show with the objective of getting feedback about potential new advertising creatives and website design pre-launch.
At the end of the session, we asked our live panel for their feedback on what it was like to take part in the process.
The response was tremendous –
here’s what some of them said about the event:
“Hi, I’m new to this and really enjoying this format”
“Hi - Just to say I love this way of research - works really well for me - do invite me if you do it again!”
“Enjoyng it, very interesting giving live opinions”
Take it from someone who was sat in the studio gallery watching these responses come through, this is a fantastic and exciting way for a brand to embrace Social Media . . . and we even allow our live participants to tell us what they think in more than 140 characters!
For more information on OMLive! go to: http://bit.ly/tvresearch
Tuesday, July 20. 2010
The Demise Of Truly Local Radio – Is it such a bad thing?
Posted by James Erskine
in
Broadcast
at
10:47
I have a vested interest in local radio, that I should make clear.
On first hearing about the news of Heart (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/21/heart-global-radio-restructure) , Smooth (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/29/smooth-radio-merge-regional-stations) and even Gold reducing the amount of local and regional programming I was more than a little upset.
So why do I like local and regional radio programming?
Firstly it allows us across the markettiers4dc Group, including Sound Creative in particular, where I work, to upweight local messages across any number of the campaigns we deliver.
Secondly it was responsible for some of the greatest days of my life as a child. You see, it was local radio, in my case Reading's 210 FM, that at the slightest hint of snow we would gather round the radio with a view to establishing if school was cancelled and we had a day of placing carrotts on the faces of snow men.
Local radio is at the very heart of many communities and is not purely responsible of alliviating children of their educational duties.
A prime example of where local radio was placed at the very heart of a community can be found back in 1997 at the Grand National. The event was cancelled after an IRA bomab scare threat (http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/12/01/local_history_aintree_1997_feature.shtml). I have never been lucky enough to go to Aintree but I am assured by friends that the car park is in the middle of the track. So you had a large number of people in Liverpool without anywhere to stay, without their bags, cars and belongings. You also had the added headache of most hotels completely full because it was Grand National season.
A combination of the people of Liverpool's good nature and BBC Radio Merseyside offered a response to be remembered: The radio station set up a sort of 'crisis swap shop' (my term, not theirs). Those stranded in Liverpool were able to call into BBC Radio Merseyside and station what they needed, “ ...... we are two couples after a bed for the night – our car is stranded in Aintree, you see” – and listeners from BBC Radio Merseyside would call up and offer spare rooms, lifts from Aintree and even a change of clothes for the destitute race goers.
So what will happen now local radio is being reduced?
Well let’s be clear, whilst the amount of local content is being reduced local radio is not being taken away completely. Heart will still give us 18 Regional Stations and of those all will have a local Breakfast, Afternoon DriveTime show and a weekend breakfast show.
Further to that those stations that aren’t owned by Global Radio and GMG are sticking slightly more rigidly to their original promise of local performance.
The changes will result in more ‘networked programming’ , however. This is where ‘less local radio’ should reap rewards in the form of large audiences, particularly for commercial radio. The Big top 40 is a networked show that runs across 145 local stations and still reaches more adults than the top 40 countdown on BBC Radio One.
Networked programming allows commercial radio to secure national big name talent and deliver it to listeners on a local level.
Costs of local radio should be reduced and, once we are out of the current economic situation, commercial radio should be able to use this money to invest in better programming.
It is also worth noting that there are ways to use regional radio on a local level that we have been employing for a little while: My colleagues within markettiers4dc will talk to you about local newsrooms which all feed into regional hubs. In Sound Creative we are able to employ local transmitters for pre-recorded trails to drive listeners to an event or make listeners aware of a localised message. Even with national commercial station Classic FM we have placed trails on the London only transmitter to drive footfall and traffic to the website of a London only store.
So is the demise of local radio such a bad thing?
We may get better programming and commercial radio should get stronger. The markettiers4dc Group may have to work harder to secure effective localised coverage, something we are not adverse to.
I feel most for kids waking up in the morning when there is the slightest hint of snow on the ground, however. You see 210 FM was changed to Heart Berkshire and this station has subsequently merged with what was Fox FM (now Heart Oxfordshire) to make Heart Thames Valley and now has to cover an area twice the size of what it used to. I know from experience how agonising the wait was before the breakfast show presenters told me if my school was cancelled. Now there will be at least twice as many schools to go through.
On first hearing about the news of Heart (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/21/heart-global-radio-restructure) , Smooth (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/29/smooth-radio-merge-regional-stations) and even Gold reducing the amount of local and regional programming I was more than a little upset.
So why do I like local and regional radio programming?
Firstly it allows us across the markettiers4dc Group, including Sound Creative in particular, where I work, to upweight local messages across any number of the campaigns we deliver.
Secondly it was responsible for some of the greatest days of my life as a child. You see, it was local radio, in my case Reading's 210 FM, that at the slightest hint of snow we would gather round the radio with a view to establishing if school was cancelled and we had a day of placing carrotts on the faces of snow men.
Local radio is at the very heart of many communities and is not purely responsible of alliviating children of their educational duties.
A prime example of where local radio was placed at the very heart of a community can be found back in 1997 at the Grand National. The event was cancelled after an IRA bomab scare threat (http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/12/01/local_history_aintree_1997_feature.shtml). I have never been lucky enough to go to Aintree but I am assured by friends that the car park is in the middle of the track. So you had a large number of people in Liverpool without anywhere to stay, without their bags, cars and belongings. You also had the added headache of most hotels completely full because it was Grand National season.
A combination of the people of Liverpool's good nature and BBC Radio Merseyside offered a response to be remembered: The radio station set up a sort of 'crisis swap shop' (my term, not theirs). Those stranded in Liverpool were able to call into BBC Radio Merseyside and station what they needed, “ ...... we are two couples after a bed for the night – our car is stranded in Aintree, you see” – and listeners from BBC Radio Merseyside would call up and offer spare rooms, lifts from Aintree and even a change of clothes for the destitute race goers.
So what will happen now local radio is being reduced?
Well let’s be clear, whilst the amount of local content is being reduced local radio is not being taken away completely. Heart will still give us 18 Regional Stations and of those all will have a local Breakfast, Afternoon DriveTime show and a weekend breakfast show.
Further to that those stations that aren’t owned by Global Radio and GMG are sticking slightly more rigidly to their original promise of local performance.
The changes will result in more ‘networked programming’ , however. This is where ‘less local radio’ should reap rewards in the form of large audiences, particularly for commercial radio. The Big top 40 is a networked show that runs across 145 local stations and still reaches more adults than the top 40 countdown on BBC Radio One.
Networked programming allows commercial radio to secure national big name talent and deliver it to listeners on a local level.
Costs of local radio should be reduced and, once we are out of the current economic situation, commercial radio should be able to use this money to invest in better programming.
It is also worth noting that there are ways to use regional radio on a local level that we have been employing for a little while: My colleagues within markettiers4dc will talk to you about local newsrooms which all feed into regional hubs. In Sound Creative we are able to employ local transmitters for pre-recorded trails to drive listeners to an event or make listeners aware of a localised message. Even with national commercial station Classic FM we have placed trails on the London only transmitter to drive footfall and traffic to the website of a London only store.
So is the demise of local radio such a bad thing?
We may get better programming and commercial radio should get stronger. The markettiers4dc Group may have to work harder to secure effective localised coverage, something we are not adverse to.
I feel most for kids waking up in the morning when there is the slightest hint of snow on the ground, however. You see 210 FM was changed to Heart Berkshire and this station has subsequently merged with what was Fox FM (now Heart Oxfordshire) to make Heart Thames Valley and now has to cover an area twice the size of what it used to. I know from experience how agonising the wait was before the breakfast show presenters told me if my school was cancelled. Now there will be at least twice as many schools to go through.
Thursday, July 15. 2010
NMA tweeted this story this morning http://www.nma.co.uk/third-of-radio-listening-now-via-web/3015851.article
Nearly a third (31%) of radio listeners tune in via the internet, according to the latest Rajar figures.
Of that percentage, 29% of people claim they listen live, up 2% from November last year, and 25% use listen again services, also a 2% rise.
The results, which covered listening via mobile for the first time, showed 1.4m people have downloaded a radio app; 20% of smartphone users, with 53% of them claiming they use the app at least once a week.
The results also showed 16% of the 1,083 people surveyed downloaded podcasts.
The Rajar Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services (MIDAS 6) was carried out last month by Ipsos MORI.
For more, follow the link to NMA's website
Nearly a third (31%) of radio listeners tune in via the internet, according to the latest Rajar figures.
Of that percentage, 29% of people claim they listen live, up 2% from November last year, and 25% use listen again services, also a 2% rise.
The results, which covered listening via mobile for the first time, showed 1.4m people have downloaded a radio app; 20% of smartphone users, with 53% of them claiming they use the app at least once a week.
The results also showed 16% of the 1,083 people surveyed downloaded podcasts.
The Rajar Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services (MIDAS 6) was carried out last month by Ipsos MORI.
For more, follow the link to NMA's website
