The long-held notion that radio is a pleasant background to human activity but rarely engages its listeners to the same degree as (for example) a magazine, is proving to be a fallacy.
I was speaking recently to a former senior manager at BBM. His contention is that new measurement technologies allow for listener data to be gathered on a quarter-minute basis. That means we’re starting to get a more accurate picture of what holds radio listeners’ attention. He says we’re starting to see that dial surfing — looking for a radio broadcast that captures and holds your attention — happens more than previously assumed. The extrapolation of that is that the listeners are actively looking for topics or music tracks that engage them.
The implication? Advertisers, desperately seeking effective ways to get their message out, may re-discover radio as a legitimate pipeline. The more accurate metrics will help prove the effectiveness, even though “sampling” — no matter how granular — still doesn’t rival the “total aggregate” data sets that internet providers can gather. Internet radio has this particular advantage over broadcast radio.