From Majority to Minority: 2020 & Women in the Workforce

If you notice anything missing in your ratings, it might be the 865,000 women, who in October alone, dropped out of the U.S. workforce.

When the year started, there were more women than men in the workforce for the first time in a decade. Now, the share of women in the workforce has dropped to levels not seen since 1988.

The largest decrease is among mothers with a child between 2-6 years old. Not yet old enough to be in school full-time, the burden of childcare falls disproportionately on women, in part because of the gender pay gap, which accelerates as education and income levels rise (radio’s core, upwardly mobile audience). If someone is going to sacrifice their career to take care of the kids during the pandemic, it’s typically the one who makes less.

Even for those who don’t drop out of the workforce, the strain of childcare on women is profound. According to a recent survey of employees who work for large companies (over 500 employees), 40% “must hide their caregiving struggles from colleagues.”

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR RADIO

Insights on the female workforce are of critical importance to radio’s ongoing recovery since employment outside the home is directly connected to heavy listening.

When examining the particularly sluggish recovery of morning drive in many PPM markets, you can see gaps in the full-time employment and out-of-home listening patterns between men and women. In some cases male full-time employment is 95%-98%, while females are 25%-30% behind. That puts an increased emphasis on winning more occasions from those females who remain full-time employed.

These macro level disruptions, including up to 75% of families in hybrid or full-time remote school settings, provide reasons for ongoing optimism. Despite short term headwinds in the coming weeks due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, as kids eventually return to school and women get back to the workforce, we believe there are opportunities for an even stronger recovery of listening beyond the resilience we’ve seen this fall.

The challenge remains – how will your stations drive daily cume and convert increased listening to rank and revenue growth? It’s incumbent to rebuild listening habits and grow cume, not just coming out of Christmas music, but on an ongoing basis as vaccines are distributed and local restrictions are lifted. 

Understanding the immense challenges of childcare on young families or older parents who according to Pew Research are seeing their grown children (18-29 year-olds) return home to live in record numbers, provides an opportunity to super serve our employed, heavy listeners. Focusing on the lives of your listeners will help you outperform the competition as well as streaming platforms built on algorithms not local companionship.

Don’t go into 2021 without a strategic growth plan. Invest time in your strategy on-air and off, so you are in a position to respond rather than react to whatever opportunities and challenges come your way. We look forward to helping you outperform the market as you drive rank and revenue growth.

On behalf of Catherine Jung, Tony Bannon, Jen Clayborn and everyone at DMR/Interactive, thank you for reading and working to drive radio forward.

Andrew Curran
President and COO
DMR/Interactive

“As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly…”

Here’s a condensed version of a radio classic. ENJOY.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at DMR/Interactive.

2021 Starts Now: Accelerate Your Growth of Listening and Revenue

Once budgets are initially built, the focus returns to forecasting, if it ever actually left. Not only monitoring the pace of revenue, but also trying to determine the best way to spend station marketing dollars in the midst of so much COVID-19 induced disruption.

At the virtual Cannes Lions Effectiveness event this year, research was presented to help answer the timeless question of what predictably moves the needle when it comes to marketing.

The Effectiveness Code is highly regarded research from Peter Field and James Hurman. The results focus on three main areas: investment, duration and the number of platforms utilized.

The more you spend and the longer you run are important, albeit straightforward conversations. the number of platforms utilized in your marketing strategy as a key indicator of effectiveness is worth further conversation, especially when station marketing has to rapidly move the needle during each compressed ratings period.

In the midst of so much noise and disruption in the lives of employed, heavy radio listeners, leveraging multiple platforms is essential to driving Daily Cume, the lifeblood of your ratings and revenue. For decades we’ve utilized a strategic approach of Repeat & Varied contact. It’s the cornerstone of DMR/Interactive’s 360° Listener Engagement Strategy. 

Simultaneously putting your message on their device, screen, inbox, mailbox and/or phone at-work along with leveraging Word of Mouth marketing through Audience Amplification generates awareness and active engagement with your brand.

In fact, according to research, campaigns using at least 5 platforms deliver ROI levels 35% higher than marketing featuring a single platform.

Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, search, display, text messaging, OTT, direct mail (which is how Nielsen interacts with every household), work place calls, email marketing, and/or Surprise & Delight touch points to your Super-Fans, let’s discuss the marketing mix and duration that maximizes your 2021 budget and is right for your competitive situation.

For many stations, it’s about a quick start to the New Year. Some need to keep powder dry until Q1 revenue comes into focus, while others want to focus on winning Q3 – essential to annual buys. Each situation is different, so connect with Catherine Jung or Tony Bannon today.

In addition, while you continue to evaluate and plan your overall marketing strategy, one platform that deserves fresh scrutiny is your budget for traditional TV.

Along with the billion hour surge of weekly streaming and OTT video consumption we all witnessed in Q2, the Nielsen Total Audience Report in August described the linear TV audience this way, “older consumers ages 55 and up …  are the heaviest television viewing group.” This isn’t an indictment of TV, it’s a timely reminder for radio stations looking to maximize their ROI.  

Not only are TV viewers predictably older than your core target, but by definition, heavy TV viewers are often out of the workforce and therefore light radio listeners, who don’t listen enough to truly matter.

As Westwood One says, “Most of the impressions TV delivers are among persons 55+.” Of course Pierre Bouvard is deftly making the case why advertisers need to enhance their TV buy with radio, but a version of the same logic applies when it comes to radio marketing itself.

“According to Nielsen, 49% of persons 25-54 in America are light TV viewers who generate only 9% of total TV time spent. AM/FM radio to the rescue! AM/FM radio reaches 90% of America’s light TV viewers.”

The Everyone’s Listening blog post continues, “A wise media planner once said, ‘You cannot solve your light TV viewer problem by buying more TV.’” That’s especially true for radio station marketing.

The time-shifted flexibility that OTT provides has achieved an inflection point during this pandemic, especially for hard to reach light TV viewers who increasingly are cutting the cord. With precision targeting and unmatched full video views, we’re seeing 25-30% of TV budgets shifting to OTT.

Despite being crunched for time and funding, don’t let a low price be the primary tool used to determine your marketing plan, as it tends to be a poor predictor of overall effectiveness. TV trade, that runs across day parts with minimal targeting, especially when it comes to OTT that gets bonused, is unlikely to deliver meaningful results.

In addition, $30,000 that’s improperly targeted and doesn’t involve active management throughout the campaign, suddenly becomes a very expensive investment when it doesn’t move the needle. Meanwhile, $100,000 in marketing that drives sustained ratings growth and delivers $650,000 in spot revenue is both efficient and effective with an ROI of 6.5X. 

While the fundamentals of recruiting and engaging employed, heavy listeners are consistent across markets and formats, each competitive situation is different and benefits from a customized marketing mix. You can’t pick from a pre-built menu, like you’re ordering an extra value meal.

Don’t go into 2021 with a half-baked plan. Invest the time now, so when funds are released, you’ll outperform the market as you drive rank and revenue growth during this ongoing recovery.

On behalf of Catherine Jung, Tony Bannon, Jen Clayborn and everyone at DMR/Interactive, thank you for reading and working to drive radio forward.

Andrew Curran
President and COO
DMR/Interactive