Do you remember the competition that Heart ran for about 6 months during their daytime shows between 10am and 4pm? It caused a lot of controversy on some radio forums, and apparently, OFCOM also recieved a complaint about it.
The complaint from a listener to Heart's Devon station, now mostly merged with Heart Cornwall, formerly Atlantic FM, to form Heart South West. There were three incidents that the complainant reported where the presenter, in this case Toby Anstis, host of the Mid Morning slot from 10am to 1pm across the whole Heart Network, did not make clear that the competition was across the whole Heart Network, not merely the station that the listener was listening to.
OFCOM found that the station had been in breach of Rule 2.15, which states that...
“Broadcasters must draw up rules for a broadcast competition or vote. These rules must be clear and appropriately made known. In particular, significant conditions that may affect a viewer's or listener's decision to participate must be stated at the time an invitation to participate is broadcast.”
Now, it has to be said, this I think is something of a harsh decision, as I believe the top prize on the competition was around £50,000, or maybe it had gone up to £60,000, but either way, that would be enough motivation for any listener to want to call in. Also, as OFCOM noted in the decision, only the person who got through to the studio was charged for the call, and others would not be.
But there are a couple of interesting points that are worth remembering here.
The first is the issue of listener trust. Now this is something that some people in the broadcasting industry either don't understand, or forget about, or think that it doesn't matter. Yet, listener trust is one of the most important commodities that any station can have, as it helps to build ratings and credibility, two of a radio station's results. It's very easy to destory listener trust, and once that trust has gone, it's very difficult to get it back.
And Heart, in its very construction, is a station that actively avoids being upfront with listeners. The fact that 35 stations have become 17 all under a single brand, with 17 hours a day of network programming on weekdays, and 20 hours a day on weekends, yet tries to say with a straight face that it prides itself on it's localness, just doesn't ring true. A listener to Heart South West in Penzance, wouldn't feel that a station based in Exter and London, is very local to them. After all, Exeter is 110 miles away, and London is 289 miles away. Not exactly local, especially when compared to Pirate FM, that is based in Pool, near Redruth, which is only 15.7 miles away, and does locally originated programming for all except 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon
Heart's words and actions are not congruent, and as such, to me as a listener, it does not make me want to trust them as a radio station.
The second point I'd like to make is one that would annoy a lot of the fans of Heart on the various radio forums and sites, but is a very pertinent point.
Heart's parent company, Global Radio, have set themselves up as the big guns in the industry, and with their intended purchase of the entity formerly known as GMG being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading, this breach of the broadcasting code doesn't help matters for them, even if it doesn't hinder them. And even if this breach is counted against them in that process, which is unlikely, it's not exactly a big minus. But when you set yourself up as the biggest company in the industry, there will be people who will not like what you do, just as there will be people who do like what you do.
However, some of the reactions that I have seen from Heart's fans, or as I usually call them, the Heartophiles, have been definitely derogatory towards the complainant. Some of the thoughts about who the complainant might be, are logical and believable. After all, in creating Heart Devon, Global took 5 different breakfast shows, 4 different daytime shows and 5 different drivetime shows, and replaced them with 1 countywide breakfast show and 1 countywide drivetime show, with network daytimes. They basically fired a lot of people and it's not inconcievable that some of them might have an agenda against Heart. However, it has to be said that a number of those who used to work for those stations that became Heart Devon, still have some very strong friendships with those who still work at Heart.
But it is worrying that the attitude is that the person invloved is somehow either a professional complainer, or someone at a rival station, that's a very damaging attitude to hold. When you are working at a radio station, you are busy doing so much, that you don't have time to dissect the opposition's output, much as you'd might like to. I find the whole idea of a rival station getting a complaint submitted to OFCOM to be totally ludicrous. The other idea of a professional complainer, whilst being more plausible, considering the past actions of organisations like MediaWatch UK, also seems unlikely in this situation. The professional complainers, such as MediaWatch UK, go after the BBC, or Channel 4, or Sky. The groups that are anti-Global and anti-Heart, are rag-tag Facebook groups of individuals, many of whom don't even have the time to actively monitor Heart's output all day.
The idea that "normal listeners" don't complain is something that broadcasters have been trying to use for years to discredit anybody who did complain about their output. It's a dangerous attitude to hold, and is very insulting to listeners, who are the most important people for any radio station. If you don't value the feedback you get from your listeners, then why should they listen to your station?
All in all, this is small fry, this is a minor infraction. In the NFL, you'd call this a 5 yard penalty. It's nothing. But the reaction of the Heartophiles online, is very disconcerting. They're treating it, like they've given up a 15 yard penalty, a major infraction, and they've basically attacked the motivation of the complainer, without having any proof, or any eveidence, or even anything slightly circumstancial. Rather than accept that Heart made a few mistakes, they throw some quite wild unprovable accusations, just so they can feel better. Such behaviour is unjustified, unwarranted and does not help Heart from a public relations standpoint.
It's a shame that these so called fans cannot just accept the fact that Heart go caught out on some minor infractions of the broadcasting code and let things be. But any big company can be regarded as a target, as the BBC, ITV, Sky and NewsCorp have all found out. And now Global are starting to realise that as the biggest commercial radio company, you are there to be shot at, and some people will take potshots at you, and some will hit the target. The measure of a company is how you react and recover from those hits and do you make your product better as a result.
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Osbourne: Part-Time, Work Experience, Chancellor
On the day when GB's Women Footballers kicked off the sporting action in an Olympics that is supposed to lift our spirits, we got word from the Office of National Statistics that showed the UK suffered a 3rd quarter of economic contraction, down a worse than expected 0.7%.
When publications such as The Daily Telegraph, and The New Statesman have such damning stories about a "part-time"... "work experience" Chancellor of The Exchequer, in other words, George Osbourne, you know you're in trouble.
But also, if you were a shareholder of a company that had seen three consecutive quarters of losses, 4 quarters of losses in 5, and 5 quarters of losses in 7, you'd demand a change at the top level. Both the CEO and CFO would be unquestionably under threat. David Cameron and George Osbourne should be very seriously thinking about their positions, and George Osbourne should definitely resign.
Austerity Doesn't Work!
That should now be clear to every human being and your more discerning domesticated animals.
When publications such as The Daily Telegraph, and The New Statesman have such damning stories about a "part-time"... "work experience" Chancellor of The Exchequer, in other words, George Osbourne, you know you're in trouble.
But also, if you were a shareholder of a company that had seen three consecutive quarters of losses, 4 quarters of losses in 5, and 5 quarters of losses in 7, you'd demand a change at the top level. Both the CEO and CFO would be unquestionably under threat. David Cameron and George Osbourne should be very seriously thinking about their positions, and George Osbourne should definitely resign.
Austerity Doesn't Work!
That should now be clear to every human being and your more discerning domesticated animals.
Friday, 13 July 2012
From my weekly show: Rangers Football Club
Earlier on, on my regular weekly web radio show on Spreaker, I asked whther you felt Rangers, in the wake of going into administration, should have been relegated to Division 3 of the Scottish Football League, or should they have only been relegated to Division 1, or Division 2.
Please leave your comments below.
Please leave your comments below.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Chris Moyles leaves Radio 1 Breakfast Show
Chris Moyles announced his departure from the Radio 1 Breakfast Show today, his final show will be around the beginning of September. He is still contracted to the station until the end of 2014, so it's a sure fire bet that he'll have another show soon.
Radio 1 has always been aimed for a younger audience. Back in the late 1980s, it was regarded as a 15-34 station, a traditional Contemporary Hit Radio station. But since those days, they seem to be aiming even younger. Apparently, Radio 1's average listener is aged 30, and that's too old according to some in the industry.
I find this whole idea of average listener age frankly ridiculous. I find the idea of local stations going after specific demographics to be seriously flawed. Local stations should be about serving local areas, rather than specific age groups. Getting as many people tuned in to your station as possible, that should be the measure of success, along with revenue, and hopefully, profits. National stations, like Radio 1, yes, you can do that, and still be successful, but for a local station to do that, and hope to gain enough listeners, I feel that as a strategy, it cannot win well enough to defeat a broad appeal station.
Radio 1 has always been aimed for a younger audience. Back in the late 1980s, it was regarded as a 15-34 station, a traditional Contemporary Hit Radio station. But since those days, they seem to be aiming even younger. Apparently, Radio 1's average listener is aged 30, and that's too old according to some in the industry.
I find this whole idea of average listener age frankly ridiculous. I find the idea of local stations going after specific demographics to be seriously flawed. Local stations should be about serving local areas, rather than specific age groups. Getting as many people tuned in to your station as possible, that should be the measure of success, along with revenue, and hopefully, profits. National stations, like Radio 1, yes, you can do that, and still be successful, but for a local station to do that, and hope to gain enough listeners, I feel that as a strategy, it cannot win well enough to defeat a broad appeal station.
Monday, 25 June 2012
Global to buy GMG Radio: Competition issues.
So, it's being reported today that Global Radio is to buy GMG Radio for £50million. It's being reported that UTV Media, Absolute Radio and Bauer Radio are expected to lodge complaints to the Competition Commission.
It's strange to watch this happen, knowing that this has happened already in two broadcasting related industries, and in both of them, they are significantly weaker now, than they were before the whole merging process began. Instead of becoming more than the sum of the parts, in both cases, the industries have become singiificantly less than the sum of the parts that made it, and it's already been happening in radio and it seems to be getting worse.
When radio stations first started being sold in the UK, back in the early 1990s, the usual valuation for a station was around £10million each. Accounting for inflation, which doubles every 15 years roughly, that would make each station today worth somewhere between £20-25million. Except, that Global has just bought 10 stations for £50million. That's £5 million per radio station. Accounting for inflation, that valuation of radio station back in the early 1990s would be somewhere near £2million. In other words, the value of an individual radio station has fallen 80% in the last 20 or so years.
That's some pretty massive depreciation. It's a damning indictment of an industry that seems to be doing what both Virgin Media in cable and ITV in terrestrial broadcasting. Merging themselves, not into oblivion, but into irrelevance. And as this trend continues, listeners will slowly continue to desert those stations that are part of this massive conglomerate, and seek other alternatives, from overseas if necessary.
And there is a bigger issue than merely the massive depreciation in the value of the radio industry over the last 20 years. This is the biggest radio company in the UK, buying the third biggest, when it is already way more than double the size and reach of the second biggest. And all this does is make Global bigger and make radio a less attractive industry for people and other business to come into. Radio was a better industry and a stronger industry, when there were more players in constant competition.
What's often refered to as consolidation is in fact nothing more than seeking to eliminate competition. And Charles Allen, who was the man responsible for the assimiliation of many of the ITV regional companies into Granada, and the eventual merger with Carlton to form ITV plc in 2004, knows all about that. And with GMG willing to sell, Global basically, being the biggest, could offer the most money, and yet, they still undervalued the group by at least half, according to GMG's own valuation in it's last annual report.
Global want to basically consolidate all of commercial radio under one company, much like Charles Allen tried to do at ITV, and almost succeeded. This deal is not designed to increase competition or preserve it, it is designed to reduce it. For that very reason alone, the Competition Commission should refuse this deal.
It's strange to watch this happen, knowing that this has happened already in two broadcasting related industries, and in both of them, they are significantly weaker now, than they were before the whole merging process began. Instead of becoming more than the sum of the parts, in both cases, the industries have become singiificantly less than the sum of the parts that made it, and it's already been happening in radio and it seems to be getting worse.
When radio stations first started being sold in the UK, back in the early 1990s, the usual valuation for a station was around £10million each. Accounting for inflation, which doubles every 15 years roughly, that would make each station today worth somewhere between £20-25million. Except, that Global has just bought 10 stations for £50million. That's £5 million per radio station. Accounting for inflation, that valuation of radio station back in the early 1990s would be somewhere near £2million. In other words, the value of an individual radio station has fallen 80% in the last 20 or so years.
That's some pretty massive depreciation. It's a damning indictment of an industry that seems to be doing what both Virgin Media in cable and ITV in terrestrial broadcasting. Merging themselves, not into oblivion, but into irrelevance. And as this trend continues, listeners will slowly continue to desert those stations that are part of this massive conglomerate, and seek other alternatives, from overseas if necessary.
And there is a bigger issue than merely the massive depreciation in the value of the radio industry over the last 20 years. This is the biggest radio company in the UK, buying the third biggest, when it is already way more than double the size and reach of the second biggest. And all this does is make Global bigger and make radio a less attractive industry for people and other business to come into. Radio was a better industry and a stronger industry, when there were more players in constant competition.
What's often refered to as consolidation is in fact nothing more than seeking to eliminate competition. And Charles Allen, who was the man responsible for the assimiliation of many of the ITV regional companies into Granada, and the eventual merger with Carlton to form ITV plc in 2004, knows all about that. And with GMG willing to sell, Global basically, being the biggest, could offer the most money, and yet, they still undervalued the group by at least half, according to GMG's own valuation in it's last annual report.
Global want to basically consolidate all of commercial radio under one company, much like Charles Allen tried to do at ITV, and almost succeeded. This deal is not designed to increase competition or preserve it, it is designed to reduce it. For that very reason alone, the Competition Commission should refuse this deal.
Friday, 15 June 2012
Busting Media Myths #1: 'How real people consume media'.
One thing that really makes me feel disappointed about the state of radio and broadcasting in general. The attitude that was summed up in an article in March 2012 on the Radio Today website written by Stuart Clarkson.
"Stop and think for a second about your own radio listening habits. And then think about how a friend or family member who doesn’t work in radio (or have an unhealthy interest in the medium) consumes it."
There is so much wrong with that statement, that I couldn't deal in detail with all the various problems with it in my rebuttal to him. But in this article, I can deal with all those problems and show why stations should not fall into the trap of believing that "real people consume media differently" from anybody else.
The first problem with that is the idea that there is a distinction between 'real people' and 'people who have an unhealthy interest'. This idea that there is a distinction between these two groups and that the more knowledgeable group should be negatively regarded is exclusive to the media. It does not exist in any other industry.
Imagine if I was a shop worker, and another shop worker from a different store came into my store with a complaint about a product I sold. Which would be the correct response?
A) "I'm sorry, but you have an unhealthy interest in retail. I will do nothing about your complaint."
B) "I do apologise. Would you like a replacement or refund?"
Generally, the correct answer would be B. If I had ever come out with anything remotely like A, I would have expected the shop manager to have hauled me over the coals in his office, and rightfully so.
So why do broadcasters regard complaints from some viewers and listeners in the same way by claiming the person has an 'unhealthy interest' in the medium? It's not good customer service, and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the viewer or listener.
There's another problem with this distinction. It shows up an attitude problem within the broadcaster. It says that the broadcaster looks at viewers or listeners, and does not consider them to be the most important people for the station. Probably they think their advertisers are more important than their listeners or viewers. But this shows they have forgotten or not understood one key fact.
Advertisers follow where the viewers or listeners go, rather than the other way round.
We have seen repeated examples of stations losing lots of listeners for one reason or another, and the advertisers desert the station. Plymouth Sound saw that in 1999 when their AM service was replaced by Classic Gold and the station lost 2/3rds of their listeners. Advertisers started to go to Pirate FM in order to get the reach they used to get with Plymouth Sound AM.
Without listeners or viewers, advertisers do not have anybody to advertise to.
It's a simple as that. Anytime you prioritise advertisers over viewers or listeners, you are putting the cart before the horse. The most important people to the success of any station is your viewers or listeners.
Now after all that, let's talk about 'consuming media'.
The first question there really is do we consume media? Well in a sense, we do, because the media is mostly a consumer product. We buy newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions, computers, games consoles, computer and console games, DVD's and Blu-Ray's, so in a sense, media is a consumer product. However, the idea that we really consume media implies that we do not make a conscious choice about which media we consume.
Far too often when we go shopping for food, we aren't really making conscious choices. We are merely picking up the same things we have always picked up, because we have got used to their texture and taste. In that situation, exercising real choice would be to decide to buy a different product, or to decide to not buy any other product, or after thinking about it, deciding to buy it anyway.
However, with most media, it is a conscious choice. It is a choice whether we go to the cinema or stay at home. It is a choice whether or not we switch on the radio or the television. It is a conscious choice when we decide which channel we are going to watch, or which radio station we are going to listen to. It is a conscious choice which game we play, or which movie we watch on DVD or Blu-Ray. So I would not call it consuming media. We interact with it, consciously making choices. Those who refer to it as consuming media are again basically forgetting that the viewer or listener is the most important person to that station. Without them, the station cannot survive.
If your radio station needs more audience to attract more advertisers and make more money, then does it make sense to keep doing the same thing you've always done? No, you have to make changes. By hiring me as a consultant, I can guide you how to improve your product, and maximise your reach by precise use of new and old media techniques. Email me to find out more.
"Stop and think for a second about your own radio listening habits. And then think about how a friend or family member who doesn’t work in radio (or have an unhealthy interest in the medium) consumes it."
There is so much wrong with that statement, that I couldn't deal in detail with all the various problems with it in my rebuttal to him. But in this article, I can deal with all those problems and show why stations should not fall into the trap of believing that "real people consume media differently" from anybody else.
The first problem with that is the idea that there is a distinction between 'real people' and 'people who have an unhealthy interest'. This idea that there is a distinction between these two groups and that the more knowledgeable group should be negatively regarded is exclusive to the media. It does not exist in any other industry.
Imagine if I was a shop worker, and another shop worker from a different store came into my store with a complaint about a product I sold. Which would be the correct response?
A) "I'm sorry, but you have an unhealthy interest in retail. I will do nothing about your complaint."
B) "I do apologise. Would you like a replacement or refund?"
Generally, the correct answer would be B. If I had ever come out with anything remotely like A, I would have expected the shop manager to have hauled me over the coals in his office, and rightfully so.
So why do broadcasters regard complaints from some viewers and listeners in the same way by claiming the person has an 'unhealthy interest' in the medium? It's not good customer service, and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the viewer or listener.
There's another problem with this distinction. It shows up an attitude problem within the broadcaster. It says that the broadcaster looks at viewers or listeners, and does not consider them to be the most important people for the station. Probably they think their advertisers are more important than their listeners or viewers. But this shows they have forgotten or not understood one key fact.
Advertisers follow where the viewers or listeners go, rather than the other way round.
We have seen repeated examples of stations losing lots of listeners for one reason or another, and the advertisers desert the station. Plymouth Sound saw that in 1999 when their AM service was replaced by Classic Gold and the station lost 2/3rds of their listeners. Advertisers started to go to Pirate FM in order to get the reach they used to get with Plymouth Sound AM.
Without listeners or viewers, advertisers do not have anybody to advertise to.
It's a simple as that. Anytime you prioritise advertisers over viewers or listeners, you are putting the cart before the horse. The most important people to the success of any station is your viewers or listeners.
Now after all that, let's talk about 'consuming media'.
The first question there really is do we consume media? Well in a sense, we do, because the media is mostly a consumer product. We buy newspapers, magazines, radios, televisions, computers, games consoles, computer and console games, DVD's and Blu-Ray's, so in a sense, media is a consumer product. However, the idea that we really consume media implies that we do not make a conscious choice about which media we consume.
Far too often when we go shopping for food, we aren't really making conscious choices. We are merely picking up the same things we have always picked up, because we have got used to their texture and taste. In that situation, exercising real choice would be to decide to buy a different product, or to decide to not buy any other product, or after thinking about it, deciding to buy it anyway.
However, with most media, it is a conscious choice. It is a choice whether we go to the cinema or stay at home. It is a choice whether or not we switch on the radio or the television. It is a conscious choice when we decide which channel we are going to watch, or which radio station we are going to listen to. It is a conscious choice which game we play, or which movie we watch on DVD or Blu-Ray. So I would not call it consuming media. We interact with it, consciously making choices. Those who refer to it as consuming media are again basically forgetting that the viewer or listener is the most important person to that station. Without them, the station cannot survive.
If your radio station needs more audience to attract more advertisers and make more money, then does it make sense to keep doing the same thing you've always done? No, you have to make changes. By hiring me as a consultant, I can guide you how to improve your product, and maximise your reach by precise use of new and old media techniques. Email me to find out more.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
What's wrong with the media #1: Lazy continuity.
I've been watching Challenge most of the day, watching a Takeshi's Castle marathon. I love the show, it's wonderfully silly. But in doing so, I've spotted a horrible example of what's wrong today with the media.
Broadcasters today seem to have forgotten that not only are they part of the Entertainment industry, but that it is also a Service industry. There seems to be very little in the way of service and the continuity announcements on Challenge today have been no exception. Most announcements over closing credits have been simply voiced promos for regular programmes, no mention of what's coming up next. The announcements into a programme have been nothing more than station promotion liners, no mention of what programme was actually about to air.
Quite frankly, if you're going to have some pre-recorded continuity, then at least make it about the shows you are showing now and next, rather than general promotion of other shows. For all the good that those announcements would actually do, they may as well not have had them airing in the first place. They were neither entertaining nor providing much of a service.
Broadcasters today seem to have forgotten that not only are they part of the Entertainment industry, but that it is also a Service industry. There seems to be very little in the way of service and the continuity announcements on Challenge today have been no exception. Most announcements over closing credits have been simply voiced promos for regular programmes, no mention of what's coming up next. The announcements into a programme have been nothing more than station promotion liners, no mention of what programme was actually about to air.
Quite frankly, if you're going to have some pre-recorded continuity, then at least make it about the shows you are showing now and next, rather than general promotion of other shows. For all the good that those announcements would actually do, they may as well not have had them airing in the first place. They were neither entertaining nor providing much of a service.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Olympic Torch Relay: Day 1: Truro
A selection of photos from the events that took place today in Truro surrounding the Olympic Torch Relay.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
My thoughts on the Q1 2012 RAJARs
There are a few notable things in this new report, which was released at Midnight.
The Cornish local radio stations, all down compared to last quarter. Very unusual. Usually one will be up even if the others are down. Best performer out of the three was BBC Radio Cornwall, which was only down 2,000 in reach and 0.2% in terms of share. The station maintained its average hours at 11.3 hrs per listener.
Atlantic FM though, is already showing signs that the move by Global to buy it out might have been a mistake. The announcement was made on 19th March, right towards the end of Q1. And if these figures are anything to go by, then Atlantic's listenership might well had already started to desert by the end of the quarter. The figures are down 5,000 on reach, average hours dropped to 5.4 and share dropped from 3.6 to 3.4%. And this was before any of the Heart branding got added into the mix.
But surprisingly, the worst performer of the three was Pirate FM. Down 8,000 in reach, down 0.3 hours in average hours, and down 0.8% in share. Pirate FM did replace their evening presenter at the beginning of the quarter with an extension of their automated programming. That maybe the reason why they're down.
In South East Cornwall, you might have expected Heart or Gold to be the beneficiaries of such a drop. Well if Heart Devon did benefit, though it is unlikely, they lost out elsewhere in Devon. Heart Devon saw their own audience drop 11,000 on reach, down 0.2 on average hours and down 0.1% on share. But Gold did gain, but it might not have been entirely due to the reduction in audience in the other stations. Gold Devon got carraige on DAB in North Devon and maybe that had as much to do with it, as anything else. Gold gained 13,000 listeners in reach, saw their average hours increase by 4 hours, and as a result, their share more than doubled, from 1.2% to 2.6%. I will need to pay a little more attention to Gold, to see if I can discern why their audience is growing that significantly.
You might have expected BBC Radio Devon to have picked up significantly from Heart Devon, but they did not. In fact, they lost 22,000 listeners on reach. However, average hours went up from 12.5 to 13.2 and as a result, share increased 0.2% on the previous quarter.
In other news, BBC Radios Guernsey, Jersey and Cornwall continue to be the best performing of the BBC local radio stations, although Cornwall (37%) has moved into second place on that list, putting Jersey (35%) into 3rd place. BBC Radio Norfolk is 4th on 30% reach, the only other station to achieve 30%+ in terms of reach in the BBC Local Radio stable. Worst perfomer there is BBC London, in the ultra competitive London market only achieving a 5% reach. Next was BBC Sussex and Surrey with 9% reach, and equal third, BBC WM and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, both with 11% reach.
In national commercial radio, Absolute Radio is down 32,000 listeners, whilst Absolute 80s gained 29,000 and Absolute 90s gained 32,000 listeners, Classic FM gained 80,000 listeners, Talk Sport gained 36,000 listeners, Smooth Radio UK gained 2,000 listeners, Jazz FM gained 52,000 listeners and Planet Rock gained 50,000 listeners.
BBC Radio 2 gaining 293,000 listeners, and 5 Live saw an icrease of 137,000 listeners but other BBC nationals did not perform so well. Radio 1 saw a drop of 524,000 listeners, Radio 4 saw a drop of 527,000 listeners, Radio 3 lost 195,000 listeners. The BBC national digital stations were also a mixed bag. Whilst 5 Live Sports Extra saw a massive 336,000 listener increase, Asian Network increased by 68,000 and 6 Music gained 11,000 listeners, on the flip side, 1Xtra lost 99,000 listeners, World Service lost 85,000 and Radio 4 Extra lost 52,000 listeners.
Overall, it's difficult to determine any distinct pattern or trend, although national commercial radio seemed to be the greater beneficiary, with a few exceptions. Although Heart Devon lost listeners and Gold Devon gained, the reverse was true across the networks. Heart gained slightly across the UK, whilst Gold lost listeners. The Breeze South West continued to lose ground, losing another 5,000 listeners, and dropping below 1% in share, whilst sister station Jack FM gained 10,000 listeners in Bristol, but they average hours went down by 2 hours. Local commmercial radio doesn't seem to gaining much ground, if any. Without significant improvement to the local commercial radio product, listeners will continue to desert stations. The BBC needs to be wary that any cuts made to BBC local radio, especially the replacing of regional evening shows with an England-wide evening show, may send listeners away from the radio entirely in the evening, especially with local commercial radio moving away from live evening shows themselves. And once they disappear, it will be hard to get them back.
The Cornish local radio stations, all down compared to last quarter. Very unusual. Usually one will be up even if the others are down. Best performer out of the three was BBC Radio Cornwall, which was only down 2,000 in reach and 0.2% in terms of share. The station maintained its average hours at 11.3 hrs per listener.
Atlantic FM though, is already showing signs that the move by Global to buy it out might have been a mistake. The announcement was made on 19th March, right towards the end of Q1. And if these figures are anything to go by, then Atlantic's listenership might well had already started to desert by the end of the quarter. The figures are down 5,000 on reach, average hours dropped to 5.4 and share dropped from 3.6 to 3.4%. And this was before any of the Heart branding got added into the mix.
But surprisingly, the worst performer of the three was Pirate FM. Down 8,000 in reach, down 0.3 hours in average hours, and down 0.8% in share. Pirate FM did replace their evening presenter at the beginning of the quarter with an extension of their automated programming. That maybe the reason why they're down.
In South East Cornwall, you might have expected Heart or Gold to be the beneficiaries of such a drop. Well if Heart Devon did benefit, though it is unlikely, they lost out elsewhere in Devon. Heart Devon saw their own audience drop 11,000 on reach, down 0.2 on average hours and down 0.1% on share. But Gold did gain, but it might not have been entirely due to the reduction in audience in the other stations. Gold Devon got carraige on DAB in North Devon and maybe that had as much to do with it, as anything else. Gold gained 13,000 listeners in reach, saw their average hours increase by 4 hours, and as a result, their share more than doubled, from 1.2% to 2.6%. I will need to pay a little more attention to Gold, to see if I can discern why their audience is growing that significantly.
You might have expected BBC Radio Devon to have picked up significantly from Heart Devon, but they did not. In fact, they lost 22,000 listeners on reach. However, average hours went up from 12.5 to 13.2 and as a result, share increased 0.2% on the previous quarter.
In other news, BBC Radios Guernsey, Jersey and Cornwall continue to be the best performing of the BBC local radio stations, although Cornwall (37%) has moved into second place on that list, putting Jersey (35%) into 3rd place. BBC Radio Norfolk is 4th on 30% reach, the only other station to achieve 30%+ in terms of reach in the BBC Local Radio stable. Worst perfomer there is BBC London, in the ultra competitive London market only achieving a 5% reach. Next was BBC Sussex and Surrey with 9% reach, and equal third, BBC WM and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, both with 11% reach.
In national commercial radio, Absolute Radio is down 32,000 listeners, whilst Absolute 80s gained 29,000 and Absolute 90s gained 32,000 listeners, Classic FM gained 80,000 listeners, Talk Sport gained 36,000 listeners, Smooth Radio UK gained 2,000 listeners, Jazz FM gained 52,000 listeners and Planet Rock gained 50,000 listeners.
BBC Radio 2 gaining 293,000 listeners, and 5 Live saw an icrease of 137,000 listeners but other BBC nationals did not perform so well. Radio 1 saw a drop of 524,000 listeners, Radio 4 saw a drop of 527,000 listeners, Radio 3 lost 195,000 listeners. The BBC national digital stations were also a mixed bag. Whilst 5 Live Sports Extra saw a massive 336,000 listener increase, Asian Network increased by 68,000 and 6 Music gained 11,000 listeners, on the flip side, 1Xtra lost 99,000 listeners, World Service lost 85,000 and Radio 4 Extra lost 52,000 listeners.
Overall, it's difficult to determine any distinct pattern or trend, although national commercial radio seemed to be the greater beneficiary, with a few exceptions. Although Heart Devon lost listeners and Gold Devon gained, the reverse was true across the networks. Heart gained slightly across the UK, whilst Gold lost listeners. The Breeze South West continued to lose ground, losing another 5,000 listeners, and dropping below 1% in share, whilst sister station Jack FM gained 10,000 listeners in Bristol, but they average hours went down by 2 hours. Local commmercial radio doesn't seem to gaining much ground, if any. Without significant improvement to the local commercial radio product, listeners will continue to desert stations. The BBC needs to be wary that any cuts made to BBC local radio, especially the replacing of regional evening shows with an England-wide evening show, may send listeners away from the radio entirely in the evening, especially with local commercial radio moving away from live evening shows themselves. And once they disappear, it will be hard to get them back.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Rajar's released at Midnight.
All the radio stations that subscribe to RAJAR will have recieved their Q1 2012 figures today, and the public figures get released at Midnight tonight.
For me here at Viewpoint, this means that I will be paying especially close attention to the figures for Atlantic FM. And no, I do not mean Heart Cornwall, as that did not start until May 7th, so well into Q2. These figures will be the last set of figures for Atlantic FM, as it was. The figures in Q2 will be transitional between Atlantic FM and Heart Cornwall, so we won't get an idea how Heart Cornwall is really doing until Q3. Even then, because RAJAR use a year's worth of listening figures to determine the final numbers for Atlantic FM / Heart Cornwall, it won't be until the Q2 2013 figures are released before we get a clear set of Heart Cornwall figures as opposed to a combination of Atlantic FM and Heart Cornwall.
There are three sets of figures that you should pay close attention to.
Average Hours Per Listener: This is quite simple. The average number of hours that a listener listens to the station per week. The lower the number, the less time is spent listening to the station. For example, 7 hours per listener would indicate an average of an hour per day. Less than this is considered bad performance. Above 10 hours a week would be considered good performance.
Listening Share in TSA: This requires a little bit of explanation. TSA means Total Survey Area, the area which is used to measure the audience. The population figure on the results give you the size of the population in that TSA aged 15 or older. The total number of hours that the station accrues, is divided by the total number of hours spent by listeners listening to the radio as a whole, and that gives you your share of listening. The higher the number, the better the performance. Below 5% share in considered bad performance, whilst above 10% is regarded as good performance. Very few stations achieve over a 20% share.
Weekly Reach: This is quite simple. It's how many people listen to a station for at least 5 minutes a week. This is measured against the 15+ population (people aged 15 or older) and a percentage is taken. Generally the higher the percentage, the better the performance, but there are many more factors in here when it comes to judging this. In London, there are a large number of local radio stations broadcasting on AM, FM and DAB, as well as the national ones. Whilst in somewhere like Cornwall, there is only the BBC local radio station and 2 ILRs to go with the nationals. Guernsey and Jersey have only the local BBC station and one commercial station against the nationals. And now with DAB, there are over 20 national radio stations, not the 8 we've been used to on AM and FM. It does mean that making sense of the reach figures in a bit trickier. However, for a local station, a reach below 10% is not good. And even up to 15% probably indicates some improvement needed.
Basically to improve your overall performance, you need to reach as many people as possible, and once they're listening, get them to listen for longer. It's not easy, but there are ways to be more successful at it. I'll get into those methods in a future post.
I'll be ready at Midnight tonight to get the data release and analyse it myself to see what can be determined.
For me here at Viewpoint, this means that I will be paying especially close attention to the figures for Atlantic FM. And no, I do not mean Heart Cornwall, as that did not start until May 7th, so well into Q2. These figures will be the last set of figures for Atlantic FM, as it was. The figures in Q2 will be transitional between Atlantic FM and Heart Cornwall, so we won't get an idea how Heart Cornwall is really doing until Q3. Even then, because RAJAR use a year's worth of listening figures to determine the final numbers for Atlantic FM / Heart Cornwall, it won't be until the Q2 2013 figures are released before we get a clear set of Heart Cornwall figures as opposed to a combination of Atlantic FM and Heart Cornwall.
There are three sets of figures that you should pay close attention to.
Average Hours Per Listener: This is quite simple. The average number of hours that a listener listens to the station per week. The lower the number, the less time is spent listening to the station. For example, 7 hours per listener would indicate an average of an hour per day. Less than this is considered bad performance. Above 10 hours a week would be considered good performance.
Listening Share in TSA: This requires a little bit of explanation. TSA means Total Survey Area, the area which is used to measure the audience. The population figure on the results give you the size of the population in that TSA aged 15 or older. The total number of hours that the station accrues, is divided by the total number of hours spent by listeners listening to the radio as a whole, and that gives you your share of listening. The higher the number, the better the performance. Below 5% share in considered bad performance, whilst above 10% is regarded as good performance. Very few stations achieve over a 20% share.
Weekly Reach: This is quite simple. It's how many people listen to a station for at least 5 minutes a week. This is measured against the 15+ population (people aged 15 or older) and a percentage is taken. Generally the higher the percentage, the better the performance, but there are many more factors in here when it comes to judging this. In London, there are a large number of local radio stations broadcasting on AM, FM and DAB, as well as the national ones. Whilst in somewhere like Cornwall, there is only the BBC local radio station and 2 ILRs to go with the nationals. Guernsey and Jersey have only the local BBC station and one commercial station against the nationals. And now with DAB, there are over 20 national radio stations, not the 8 we've been used to on AM and FM. It does mean that making sense of the reach figures in a bit trickier. However, for a local station, a reach below 10% is not good. And even up to 15% probably indicates some improvement needed.
Basically to improve your overall performance, you need to reach as many people as possible, and once they're listening, get them to listen for longer. It's not easy, but there are ways to be more successful at it. I'll get into those methods in a future post.
I'll be ready at Midnight tonight to get the data release and analyse it myself to see what can be determined.
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