From the beginning of time, radio has struggled with its commercial loads, stopset placements, and the ongoing debate of units versus minutes.
While all that’s been playing out over the decades, newcomers like music pure-plays and satellite radio have come along, providing consumers with alternatives to commercials. And if you’re willing to pay a subscription fee, commercial-free music is what you get.
So where does that leave radio? While most programmers, managers, and consultants have spent their time trying to game the diary or PPM systems, radio may be losing the bigger game to its new competitors, as audiences increasingly tire of incessant commercials programmed in long blocks.
But are they just tired of hearing commercials or are they also fatigued by their quality and their placement – both of which can conspire to make the listening experience more painful and miserable?
Recently, the Edison Research team fronted by Sean Ross has talked a lot about alternatives to the two-stopset/heavy load model that most music stations in America are invested in. They put the question to their Infinite Dial sample and reached the conclusion that a majority of respondents prefer shorter/more frequent breaks versus paying the piper in fewer/longer stopsets.
On the surface, this makes sense. But the problem is that in so many perception versus reality questions, consumers will tell you one thing – and then do another. How it looks on a paper questionnaire (or on a computer screen) and how it sounds on the radio are often two different things. It’s not that different from the “one big prize/one winner versus many prizes/many winners” conundrum. Audiences almost always prefer the latter, but respond better to the former – pretty much every time.
That’s why there are limitations to quantitative research as we also know from our Techsurveys. Ask the radio listening question one way, and the industry is standing on the polar ice cap. Ask it a different way, and radio looks as healthy as ever.
So let me tell you what I’m hearing – loudly and clearly – in just about every focus group and Listener Advisory Board panel I’ve done over the past couple of years, especially in PPM markets.
Yes, listeners point to certain commercials that drive them nuts, especially annoying spots that are amplified by being played with great frequency. But if you want to know the #1 problem with commercials on the radio, it often has less to do with quantity and quality, and more to do with how they’re scheduled.
Edison asked a good question, but the devil is in fact in the details. Because the loudest and most consistent listener complaint is this:
“Why do all the stations play their commercials at the same time?”
And of course, the answer is that almost everyone is doing the “bowtie configuration” (stopping in the 15:00 and 45:00 zones) because that’s how it first came down from Mt. Arbitron when PPM started. Now you go back and ask those former Arbitron executives about the current state of stopset scheduling affairs, and they’ll likely tell you they never envisioned that every station in town would pay the bills at essentially the same time every hour.
But that’s how it’s played out. And it’s doing more to drive listeners from broadcast radio to satellite, iPods, smartphone apps, and other options than any other transgression that radio commits. It’s an engraved audio invitation to go elsewhere, especially when consumers are in situations where changing media (note that I didn’t say “changing stations”) is easy and convenient – like when they’re in a car.
So think about it – by far, the top consumption point of broadcast radio is the car, just about everyone’s playing commercials at the same time, and a growing majority can now connect their smartphones and mp3 players to their vehicle’s systems.
And we wonder why consumers continue to wander off to other content reservoirs that simply give them what they want, when they want it.
We need to be more imaginative with our stopset architecture and not follow the ratings lemmings over the cliff. Maybe Edison has a point with more stopsets with fewer commercials. But maybe other points on the clock ought to be considered, too, featuring different “separation strategies.” Maybe stopsets that are placed consistently inconsistently have merit.
Whatever the case, every cluster and company should be having the conversation because while it is basic x’s and o’s programming, it has major implications on the long-term health of broadcast radio listening.
We’re better than this.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Your points about needing to reexamine the current stop set architecture seem right on the mark. In fact, that’s what spurred our recent observations that it’s not so urgent to improve the creative quality of radio spot commercials if the real problem is whether people are listening to them at all. bit.ly/1lc7AOY
Good point, Jim, and something we have continued to point out. Radio pays little attention to creative at its own peril. Appreciate the comment.
While I agree that stop set architecture is a priority, I am deeply concerned about the tune-out factor in some of our (usually local) spots. I heard one yesterday morning that actually started with what sounded like an industrial fire alarm. I almost hurt myself in my haste to get off the offending station.
Laura, no doubt that the quality of many local ads is questionable. As Bob Bellin points out in an earlier comment, not all of those spots are produced by a local station. But clearly, a contributing factor is the heavy burden that typically one in-house production person has, trying to create ads for 5 or 6 stations in the building. There’s just so little time to really craft viable commercials that it’s no wonder that everything sounds cranked out. Thanks for chiming in.
I’m not suggesting that we go quite this far away from the “bowtie”, but here’s a breakdown of an hour with 11 stopsets (yes, eleven!)from a station that, as of the recording of this aircheck, was the #1 music station in San Francisco – #3 overall with a 7.5 share. The spotload was 10.5 minutes in 12 units, including 5 live reads. And it cooked! Yes, it was a long time ago, but in listening to this presentation, the stopsets were precision surgical strikes, not assaults.
KFRC/SAN FRANCISCO: 1-3-76 (Shana/12m-1a)
Legal ID + TALKOVER
Go All The Way – Raspberries
1202 STOPSET 1-:60
JINGLE TO MUSIC
I Write the Songs – Barry Manilow
Live backsell
1207 STOPSET 1-60
JINGLE TO MUSIC + TALK (request lines)
Love’s Theme – Love Unlimited Orchestra
Live backsell
1211 STOPSET 1-:30 (LIVE READ)
JINGLE TO MUSIC
Heatwave – Linda Ronstadt
SWEEPER – “KFRC: 1970”
Too Busy Thinking About My Baby – Marvin Gaye/Tammy Terrell
Live backsell
1217 STOPSET 1-:60
WX INTO SONG (no talkover)
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover – Paul Simon
Live backsell
1221 STOPSET 1-:60
PSA (jock live)
JINGLE + TALK
Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh
Live backsell
1227 STOPSET 1-:60 (LIVE READ)
JINGLE + TALK (ARTIST NAME ONLY)
Heart of Gold – Neil Young
Live backsell
1232 STOPSET 1:-60
JINGLE + TALK
Theme from S.W.A.T. – Rhythm Heritage
Live backsell
1237 STOPSET 1-:60 (LIVE READ)
JINGLE INTO MUSIC (no talkover)
Black is Black – Los Bravos
Live backsell
1241 STOPSET 1-:60
JINGLE INTO MUSIC (no talkover)
Theme from “Mahogany” – Diana Ross
SWEEPER – “KFRC: 1971”
Bitch – Rolling Stones
Live backsell
1249 STOPSET 1-:30 (LIVE READ)
WX INTO SONG (no talkover)
Love To Love You – Donna Summer
Live backsell
1253 STOPSET 1-:30 (LIVE READ) + 1-:60
JINGLE INTO MUSIC (no talkover)
Monterey – Animals
Jay, thanks for the breakdown. PPM aficionados would argue that meters would negate the effectiveness of this architecture. But the other side of that coin is that shorter breaks would encourage listeners to hang through them in order to get back to the music.
And of course, All News stations break several times an hour for commercials and perform just fine. Thanks for reminding us there are others ways to skin this cat.
The only way to know for sure is to try different configurations and track the results. It seems simple and easy but my bet is that it won’t happen.
This was an awesome post – thought provoking and fun to see on all levels. Wasn’t it Gerry Cagle that always advocated a couple of stiffs every hour? 🙂
Hasn’t radio always scheduled its stop sets at the same time? Pre PPM, wasn’t it :20, :35, :50? The problem with mixing it up is that it becomes too easy for listeners to bounce around and never hear any spots. If you keep them within your cluster but they dance around the stop sets, what have you accomplished?
The disconnect between research and behavior argues for some beta testing by format. Someone should test different strategies and see if different placement has any impact on ratings. But radio seems to shun beta testing so I doubt that will happen.
As for creative being lousy – it most certainly is. But only a small percentage of the spots most stations run are produced by their staff, meaning if every station produced spot was awesome, it probably wouldn’t impact the totality of the problem enough to impact listener perception/behavior.
Probably the best compromise would be to vary stop set placement by hour and keep spot loads reasonable. But this is an issue that won’t go away – I haven’t listened to an audio ad in years. For the cost of one meal for two at a really nice restaurant, I have Spotify, Sirius/XM and Pandora all ad free for a year. So I never had to hear, “…FOR ONE DAY ONLY…..!”
Bob, a gnarly, complicated issue that has been neglected for too long. We’ve been so concerned with the fine art of gaming diaries and meters that we often miss the more macro issues of advertising effectiveness, listener fatigue and anger, and radio’s overall business model. At a time when consumers have a greater ability to personalize their experience – entertainment and advertising – we continue to cling to old models and traditional ways of doing things. Like so many other factors impacting the radio business, this is another key area that is hurting the industry’s ability to remain viable amidst the rise of new media. Thanks, as always, for taking the time and adding your perspective.
talking about the tryanny of the Bow-tie is nothing compared experiencing it. Here’s :30 of it – 6 presets – 6 commercials.
https://youtu.be/oQjHc6Njb94
This isn’t a one off – I could make a video like this 2 times per hour – almost every hour – every single weekday during drive time.
#realitycheck
Jeff, your video says more in :30 than my 750 words. I’m assuming it was at one of the bow tie positions, yes?
yup – 15 & 45 in these here parts.
This will never happen (so, in fact, I write this suggestion with some facetiousness) … but your article makes me think (creatively) that, for the good of radio (the industry’s long-term health), group owners within markets should cooperate and schedule stopsets so they’re NOT all playing commercials at the same time. This way, at least a few more listeners might stick with the medium as they scan to avoid commercials. On the flip side, however, consistently successful “commercial avoidance” by listeners wouldn’t benefit advertisers, would it? (And getting no results from their ads, they might stop advertising.) It’s all so complicated … so, forget about the idea, after all (again, I was being somewhat facetious in the first place — but not because it’s a bad idea; rather, realistically the necessary cooperation would never happen).
So, that brings it back to the need for radio, as an industry, to get more creative (well highlighted by Fred and others) … and to “Just say no” to the “Anything for a buck” mentality that is currently so prevalent concerning radio ads — and that gives us frequently poor quality spots with zero relevance (looking squarely at you, “Flip This House” seminar ads).
Mike, as you pointed out: it’s complicated. There are a lot of moving parts here and you’ve hit on a number of them: scheduling commercials and the quality of commercial production. More and more people maintain that in spite of radio’s difficulties with commercial load and the propensity for consumers to “punch out,” avoiding ads on radio is harder than online. Many marketers are learning that the metrics for digital channels aren’t always as pristine as the reports indicate. There’s something about a radio ad – especially a good one delivered by a trusted personality – that can cut through. Thanks ffor the comment and the thought process.
Good stuff, Fred. A couple additional remarks related the original topic (and others’ follow-up comments) that I didn’t delve into in my prior reply.… Sometime within the past year or so (I believe), I heard about KNDD-FM, in Seattle, experimenting with multiple, shorter stopsets (in a clock that’s likely similar to the KFRC format clock shared by Jay in his comment above). I haven’t heard how it’s working out for KNDD — but I give them credit for trying something different. As I’ve written elsewhere, I believe long stopsets represent an outmoded tactic not well-suited for the digital age (precisely because shorter breaks — a single unit of :15, :30 or :60 — is what listeners are growing accustomed to on alternative platforms). Advertisers, too, should like not being lost in long-stopset commercial “clutter.”
At WGSU (the station I oversee), though we’re noncommercial, back in 2014 we introduced a break intro that ends, “Back to the music in 30 seconds.” It allows us to capitalize on a strength: Short (typically single unit) hourly PSA breaks that not only differentiate us from commercial competitors, but that are also consistent with listeners’ new expectation. We hope that listeners accustomed to the short breaks “hang through them” (as you suggested above). On top of that, we try to keep the spots relevant to the target audience (which is, admittedly, easier for us than our commercial counterparts).
Lastly, your remark suggesting the potential value of a well-done spot “delivered by a trusted personality” is right on the mark. In a conversation with a radio friend few years ago, I went a step farther … proposing that live reads, because they can be delivered so seamlessly — potentially not terribly disruptive to a show’s flow — can be highly effective (by offering credibility and trust, as you suggest; plus, done well, they might not “sound like ads”). I likened live reads to product placement in a movie or TV show (a comparison I don’t think I’ve read or heard elsewhere). I proposed that live reads should be more frequently employed (probably at a higher cost to the advertiser due to the value added). After all, what’s not to like: Potentially more effective ads … heard by more people … generating higher revenue per ad … and causing less tuneout.
Regrettably, creative thinking might be what is missing most in radio today.
Great topic and discussion (albeit joined late by me).
Mike, appreciate the further comments. A more thoughtful approach to commercials – placement and production – would be welcome at this point. They are the top complaint about radio and yet, few address it with strategic thought.