STROOM RTV update July 2023: NMO listening survey 2023
Seven months we are on the road with the new NMO listening survey. An entirely new measurement methodology within a medium type does not happen often. With that, we were on the eve of the great unknown. "What impact does this new survey have on our years of radio knowledge?" is the big question hanging over every media specialist's head. Is our advice still the best even now or will rigorous adjustments have to start being made? And above all, is it already possible?
Starting January 2023, radio will be measured on a minute-by-minute basis rather than a quarter-hourly basis. It will be measured via a smartphone app rather than an analog/digital diary. In short, from now on there will be very reliable and accurate data available on the medium type of audio.
Also, listening figures will be released on a weekly level instead of a monthly basis. This gives us the ability to make very accurate analyses, despite only having six months of data at our disposal.
Key findings
For example, we see that theme weeks like The Wrong Week at Qmusic or the Top1000 at Radio10, contribute strongly to the market share of the respective station. The zapping behavior is also higher than the old listening survey showed us. This means that listeners are less station loyal than previously assumed and move around more across the radio landscape. In addition, we have firmly established, that the listening time is reasonably stable over the entire 07-20 hours of the day and does not peak only in the morning rush hour as previously thought. Unfortunately, the variable "listening location" has been dropped in the new study, so we have to make the assumption that radio listening from travel time is continued in the workplace, for example.
However, we do see a sharp decrease in listening time overall. Because previous listening research was done on a quarter-hourly basis (8 minutes of listening, was reported as 15 minutes of listening) and from now on on a minute-by-minute basis, we see a halving in listening time (or a halving in campaign GRPs). This does not mean that the GRP price has been too high in the past, as the number of spots purchased remains the same. The new study just provides a finer and much better picture of the listening reality.
Now you would say that this wealth of new insights would be immediately applicable to current radio campaigns. This is partly true and partly not yet possible.
The radio stations' sales organizations set commercial policy for 2023 late last year. They too will have to learn from the new reality in order to offer appropriate commercial opportunities to the market. Due to the rather quick transition from the old to the new listening research, it was difficult to act on this immediately. In addition, more intensive campaign optimization on the channel side, also requires more capacity and adapted planning software to manage this.
However, we do have the opportunity to hold current radio campaigns against the new light. Recommendations in desirable spot frequency across time slots, station mix ratio based on the communication target group and the possible additions of DAB+ and theme channels to overcome the "loss" in listening time and reach will be optimized where necessary.
On a weekly basis, the consultants at STROOM have an internal meeting. There the most recent data is analyzed and the possible applicability discussed, but also operators are invited to share their views on the research. This allows STROOM to always provide the client with the latest advice.