How many times have you heard that line uttered in a strategic meeting for a Rock station?
Many Rock PDs feel that women just aren’t around in big enough numbers to matter. And in fact, when you’re testing music (especially during these days when 100 respondents have shrunk to 90 or maybe even 80 or…), the “Law of Focus” always rears its head.
And so you end up just testing against men.
But the reality – as we see in PPM and elsewhere – is that there are a lot of women listening to Rock radio. And in fact, if you program, manage or own a Rock station, I’ll bet you there are a lot more women in your loyalty club/email database than you think.
I know this because after six annual Technology Surveys among thousands and thousands of Rock, Classic Rock, and Alternative fans, we consistently see female respondents around the 40% mark.
So while women may not be the dominant species at the vast majority of Rock-formatted stations, they make a sizeable contribution. In many cases, it’s about cume rather than duration – but they’re there.
The amazing thing is that this phenomenon occurs in the online world, too. comScore now reports that nearly as many women visit sports-themed websites as men – they just don’t hang around as long.
As the chart clearly shows, website reach nears parity among progressively older men and women.
And it’s not just sports. The same basic relationship occurs for automotive and technology themed sites, too.
This suggests that perhaps some of the gender differences that we believe exist are more perceptual than real. Anecdotally, we often see women behave more like stereotypically men – from sitting in the corner office to partying to everything else.
This sense of "equality" may be permeating their online and pop culture tastes.
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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