SAARF RAMS February 2012
Click here to download
the latest RAMS 2011/6 PDF
Creatures of habit
Thank you to SAARF for providing the following analysis:
South Africans have shown little change in their radio listening habits, with SAARF’s latest RAMS release showing no significant listening changes over the previous survey.
Key results from RAMS February 2012, the sixth release from the 2011 RAMS programme, are:
Time spent listening
|
Technical Info *Fieldwork period: End of August- mid December 2011, with the Jan- June 2011 urban/rural sample *Sample size: 29 309 |
As was the case in RAMS Dec 2011, time spent listening (TSL) is stable on the previous release, and is one minute lower than it was a year ago.
Currently, TSL is three hours and 38 minutes per day.
Total listening
In total, radio listening levels are stable across the entire week.
- Past 7 day listening: 88.1% (lower listening in Durban)
- Average Monday to Friday (ave. M-F): 68.3%
- Saturday listening: 64.8% (levels are up in Kimberley, but down in metros and in Durban). Listening in the evening is lower than it was in RAMS Feb 2011.
- Sunday listening: 64.8%, with declines in listening in Pietermaritzburg. Listening on a Sunday afternoon is slightly higher than a year ago, while evening listening is somewhat down.
Individual station changes
Only stations showing statistically significant audience changes are reported on here. For a full list of audience figures, please visit www.saarf.co.za, and click on “RAMS® (radio)”.
While no individual radio station showed any movement this RAMS release over RAMS Dec 2011, five commercial stations and a number of community stations have significantly improved audience levels compared to RAMS Feb 2011.
- BRFM and Radiokansel/Radio Pulpit’s average Monday to Friday listening levels are at 0.2%, an improvement for both on their levels of 0.1% a year ago.
- Metro FM: looking better than it did a year ago, with weekly listening at 17.3%, compared to 16.2%. The station has however, lost listeners in cities and large towns on a past-7-day level, versus RAMS Dec2011.
- Radio 2000:now at 2.6%, compared to 2.1% in RAMS Feb 2011.
- Ukhozi FM commanded 18.4% of all weekly radio listeners in Feb 2011. Now, its national reach is 19.5%.
The community radio sector is stronger today than it was a year ago, reaching 24.3% of South Africans each week (compared to 23.0% in Feb 2011), and 12.4% on an average Monday to Friday (compared to 11.6% a year ago).In the short term however, the sector is showing declined listening in metro areas both across the week and on an average Monday to Friday, versus RAMS Dec2011.
Community stations whose improved year-on-year reach contributed to the sector’s stronger position are:
Stations showing lower audience figures compared to the year previous (RAMS Feb 2011) are:
Some stations have seen listeners from various demographic groups adjusting their listening habits, but not enough to affect the overall reach of these stations. Demographic shifts over RAMS Dec2011were seen for:
- Gagasi 99.5 FM: more LSM 8 listeners across the week.
- Kaya FM 95.9: fewer LSM 8 on a Monday to Friday.
- Lesedi FM: more listeners in large urban areas, Gauteng, and in LSM 8 (past 7 days), and more listeners in Gauteng and on the Reef on an average Monday to Friday.
- Motsweding FM: fewer LSM 7 listeners across the week.
- SAFM: more listeners from the Western Cape (past 7 days)
- Trufm: lower listening levels in large urban areas (past 7 days)
*All analysis provided by SAARF
Click here to download the figures!
RAMS 2011/5
Click here to download the
latest RAMS 2011/5 PDF
SAARF RAMS December 2011: Radio is as reliable as ever
Thank you to SAARF for providing the following analysis.
While stable figures may be bad news for a journalist looking for an angle, they’re certainly good news for radio. As 2011 draws to a close, SAARF’s final RAMS release for the year shows a medium that continues to demonstrate its stability and reliability, with stations maintaining their audiences at unchanged levels.
TOTAL LISTENING
Listening levels are unchanged over the October RAMS release. Sunday afternoon listening is higher now than it was in the year previous, while weekend early-evening listening is lower than a year ago. Neither movement is a significant change however. These are the only differences to be found in overall listening.
- Past-7-day listening (p7d): 88.5% of all adults aged 15+
- Average Monday to Friday: 68.8%
- Saturday listening: 65.7%
- Sunday listening: 64.9%
TIME SPENT LISTENING
Looking back over 2010’s RAMS releases, time spent listening was 3h47 per day in RAMS Dec 10, it is now 3h39, with a loss of one minute over the previous RAMS release. Most of this loss has come from the small urban/rural segment.
- Daily TSL: 3h39
- Weekly TSL: 25h30
STATION FIGURES
Please note that all figures for commercial radio reflected in this article are percentaged on a national basis, while community radio figures are percentaged on a provincial basis.Only stations showing statistically significant audience changes are reported on here. Results reflect all adults aged 15+.
There were no significant listenership changes over the previous RAMS release. Discernible differences in listening were only seen when looking back across the year, comparing current station audience levels with those of RAMS Dec 10.
STATIONS SHOWING HIGHER REACH THAN THE YEAR PREVIOUS
|
Station |
RAMS Dec 10 |
RAMS Dec 11 |
|
COMMERCIAL/PBS STATIONS |
||
| BRFM (average M-F) |
0.1% |
0.2% |
| Good Hope FM (p7d) |
1.8% |
2.2% |
| Good Hope FM (average M-F) |
0.8% |
1.1% |
| METRO FM (p7d) |
16.2% |
17.6% |
| Munghana Lonene FM (p7d) |
2.8% |
3.4% |
| Radio 2000 (p7d) |
2.1% |
2.7% |
| Radio 2000 (average M-F) |
0.7% |
1.0% |
| Ukhozi FM (p7d) |
18.1% |
19.6% |
| Ukhozi FM (average M-F) |
11.2% |
12.0% |
|
COMMUNITY RADIO |
||
| Total community radio (p7d) |
23.1% |
24.8% |
| Total community radio (ave. M-F) |
11.6% |
12.7% |
| Alfred Nzo Community Radio 98.3/93.8 fm |
5.5% |
8.2% |
| Inkonjani FM |
4.2% |
5.8% |
| IzwiloMzansi 98.0fm |
1.9% |
3.5% |
| KASIE FM 97.1 |
1.4% |
2.5% |
| KHANYA Community Radio |
1.2% |
2.7% |
| Motheo FM |
7.7% |
13.9% |
| Radio 786/VOC |
6.2% |
8.9% |
| Radio Namakwaland 93.4 Fm |
0.8% |
1.8% |
|
Station |
RAMS Dec 10 |
RAMS Dec 11 |
| Radio West Coast 92.3 fm |
0.7% |
1.5% |
| SEKGOSESE COMMUNITY RADIO |
2.7% |
4.8% |
| SEKHUKHUNE COMMUNITY RADIO (SKFM) |
0.2% |
4.0% |
| Umgungundlovu FM (U107.6 FM) |
0.0% |
0.8% |
| Vaaltar FM (VTR FM) |
2.0% |
7.6% |
STATIONS SHOWING LOWERREACH THAN THE YEAR PREVIOUS
|
Station |
RAMS Dec 10 |
RAMS Dec 11 |
|
COMMERCIAL/PBS STATIONS |
||
| Classic 102.7 (p7d) |
0.6% |
0.4% |
| Ikwekwezi FM (average M-F) |
2.5% |
1.9% |
| Ligwalagwala FM (p7d) |
4.2% |
3.5% |
| Ligwalagwala FM (average M-F) |
2.5% |
2.1% |
| Phalaphala FM (average M-F) |
1.9% |
1.4% |
| Thobela FM (p7d) |
8.8% |
7.9% |
| Thobela FM (average M-F) |
5.1% |
4.5% |
| UmhloboWenene FM (p7d) |
12.2% |
11.2% |
| UmhloboWenene FM (ave M-F) |
7.8% |
7.0% |
|
COMMUNITY RADIO |
||
| Eden Fm |
4.9% |
3.3% |
| Univen Community Radio 99.8 FM |
6.1% |
3.8% |
The results of the first RAMS study for 2012 will be released in mid-February.
Up close and personal with … the Programming Manager
Radio advertisers can learn a lot by understanding what frightens radio station programming managers the most, says Jason Brownlee. He should know. He’s tested the effectiveness of more than 400 radio case studies on RadioGAUGE…
In my experience, *the* most terrifying thing a Programming Manager has to contemplate is changing the presenter of his breakfast show. It’s no secret that listeners become very attached to their favourite DJs who weave themselves into the routine of daily life and become like real friends.
The second thing would be putting new music onto their playlist. People don’t like songs they don’t recognise and have been known to switch off from a station playing something unfamiliar and cruise around the dial until they hear a song they know and like.
Interestingly, the top 25% of radio ads in terms of creative effectiveness, as measured by RadioGAUGE, were on average 13% better at generating brand campaign awareness than the bottom 25% of ads. Top-performing campaigns often exhibited common attributes such as long standing creative strategies, familiar jingles, recognisable voices, regular characters and consistent story lines.
What am I saying then?
Here are three things, my points above prove;
1. Personalities need familiarity to be successful on the radio – presenters need to develop a rapport with an audience that, over time, will come to embrace them.
2. Music needs familiarity to be successful on the radio – as a song begins to break its way into awareness it builds familiarity within the minds of listeners, who will eventually take it to heart.
3. Commercials need familiarity to be successful on the radio – advertisers need to develop creative themes or templates that express the personality of their brand on the radio and commit to them over a long period of time.
Bottom line; building familiarity on the radio is crucial for any presenter, song or band that wants to cut through into audience consciousness and be taken into the hearts and minds of listeners. Brands that ‘find their voice’ on the radio build the strongest relationships with listeners, which invariably delivers the best ROI from the medium.
Jason Brownlee
Development Director, RadioGAUGE International
RAMS 2011/4
Click here to download the
RAB RAMS 2011/4 PDF.
To download this presentation, please click here
RAMS 2011/3
Click here to download the
RAB RAMS 2011 / 3 PDF.
To download this presentation, please click here
FREE radio advertising research is here!
We all want cutting edge campaigns, but we need to know that they’re going to be successful. RadioGAUGE founder Jason Brownlee not only talks radio’s accountability, he’s bringing sexy back into radio advertising effectiveness…
As the old adage suggests, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, or in this case, an ad campaign is only as good as its results. This begs for sound research that helps advertisers improve the effectiveness of the radio element of their campaign.
Enter RadioGAUGE, which, having been initiated by the RAB UK, is designed to help a broad range of radio advertisers understand the specific effects achieved as a result of their radio advertising campaigns, and how to improve this effectiveness.
Dollywagon Media Sciences Director and the brains behind RadioGAUGE, Jason Brownlee explains that this ground-breaking radio advertising effectiveness measurement tool was born out of a realisation in 2005 that UK advertisers were ‘falling out of bed with radio’.
Drawing on from this belief, Brownlee developed RadioGAUGE, which has, since its inception, taken radio from a 2% to a 7% revenue share medium in a really tough UK market;
“We realised that if we could grow our share of the advertising cake, everyone could get a piece. We’re convinced after successfully evaluating more than 400 radio campaigns, that no other radio effectiveness study has achieved quite the same impact”.
Research studies are by nature a costly affair, however, the beauty of RadioGAUGE, as Brownlee explains is that it writes its own cheques; “There’s simply no catch. RadioGAUGE has been brought to South Africa by the RAB SA. The project is funded by the RAB and is aimed at growing radio revenue. Considering that it is valued at R300 000 per advertiser, a valid question might be – why for free?
“It’s simple. The RAB pays for it, so you don’t have to. That’s because every rand spent in qualifying the strength of a radio campaign means advertisers will continue to see value in investing in the medium, helping to grow radio revenue”, he says.
Method in the madness
“The objectives for RadioGAUGE are simple enough; measure any campaign/ category for any kind of advertiser, including the evaluation of creativity. We want to make every ad a little bit better, so we test via a survey, interrogate the data, and then put together a confidential report for the client”, he adds.
Managing to put the sexy back into data, Brownlee took guests through the methodology graphs with candour, his particular brand of British humour not lost on the afternoon workshop crowd;
“This measurement tool isolates radio’s effectiveness by surveying people who’ve been exposed to all elements of the campaign including the radio element against those who’ve been exposed to all media elements of the campaign except the radio element i.e. people who don’t listen to the radio stations that the campaign flighted across. The campaign can also be tested against any other campaign ever tested on RadioGAUGE. The learnings from this are immense as clients now understand that you can put lipstick on pig and make your campaign a bit better”, he concludes.
Some Learnings from more than 400 campaigns tested…
ü RadioGAUGE asks listeners about involvement e.g. whether the voice of a certain DJ or voice talent can have an impact on the success of your ad. Take Luci Hirsch for an example; she’s been advertising on radio for 7 years. Some people hate her, some love her – we can test which it is. Generally, consistency pays.
ü It will also show you the effects of cramming too much information into an ad. We’ve found that single message ads are far more effective than a shopping list of information.
ü RadioGAUGE demonstrates the power of integration. Radio campaigns are hardly ever created in isolation. They have other media elements attached to them. Brand heritage has been created. If you’re not reflecting the creative activity taking place across your other media messages, in your radio ads, you’re killing yourself. Radio works best when it takes cognisance of the other elements in your campaign.
ü There is a link between ads with great creative and advertising performance. The 25 most successful campaigns had the best creativity.
ü 60% of successful campaigns kept the creative theme/ element consistent. Bottom line: Stick to a good idea. If you use music in your TV ad, use the same music or voice talent in your radio ads.
ü Why are so many radio ads ineffective? The answer lies in the use of a robotic ‘not going to offend anyone’ voice. The use of a neutral voice in an ad is associated with only 8% success in an ad.
ü Cut out compliance (if you can!) Campaigns that don’t include any ‘Terms and Conditions’ are more than 25% more effective than ads that do.
RadioGAUGE is making a massive difference to the way radio revenue is growing in the UK by helping advertisers to improve the effectiveness of their radio campaigns, and it can do the same here! The good news is that since the RadioWorks 2011 Conference, we’ve had a significant number of enquiries and uptake of clients wanting to be tested. What are you waiting for? For more info on RadioGAUGE, contact Gilda on 011 325 4945 or e-mail gilda@rab.co.za
