Country Radio's Diversity Problem

I have been writing about the coming of the Millenials into country's target for more than twenty years, so this week's revelations from Edison Research at the Country Radio Seminar should not come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to our evolving target.

Today (from the country/new country section of Nielsen's State Of Audio Today 2014):

Tomorrow (from Edison's CRS research as reported by Inside Radio):

It's not going to be simple or easy as our creators of music open their sights beyond the traditional themes and sounds of America's South, as our personalities evolve to understand how to be relatable and entertain in broader ways and today's upper demos accept these changes.

Of course, it has to happen in a way that "country" remains uniquely "country" or we'll be surrendering the values which make us so appealing and strong, but anyone who would predict that it can't happen or won't work doesn't know our listeners very well.

The evolution has already begun, it's helping us grow right now.

The intelligent way to see and embrace this change is to see it as "country's diversity opportunity."

A 2014 Wish That Even 12-24 Listeners Don't Seem To Want Radio To Grant

Country Aircheck Weekly features some fun and serious wishes from members of our community.

It's worth a read, but I have bad news for Curb Dir./National Promotion Mike Rogers who speaks for many in the music marketing community:  "My wish for radio is that the door will open for more opportunity for female artists. You can see it start turning that way now, we just need that door to open a little wider."

Note that even 12-24 country fans' list of top four favorite artists, as I posted yesterday, contains only one female and four guys.

All of the 12 to 24 year olds' ranker of the favorite four was just the opposite:  three females and one male.

Bad news for Mike, I fear.  Programmers certainly want to access that cume of all younger listeners, but more important to us is to keep the country core among them happy by playing their favorites.

Good news for us:  12-24 tastes among country music radio fans look quite similar in this regard to 25-49.

She's "Carrie-ing" Our Younger Demos

NBC must have done a bit of research of their own before they gave Carrie Underwood some "Dough Re Me" last year.

An early look at just-fielded research conducted by Edison Research for next month’s Country Radio Seminar indicates that Carrie is the most popular artist with young both people in the 12-24 demo who like country music and is also the most popular country artist among all 12-24s.

“Understanding country radio’s next generation of listeners” finds favorable 12-24 ratings for these artists among the young folks who said they like country music:

1. Carrie Underwood:  82%
2. Tim McGraw:  80%
3. Blake Shelton:  78%
4. Luke Bryan:  75%

Among all 12-24's:

1. Carrie Underwood:  48%
2. Kelly Clarkson:  44%
3. Taylor Swift:  43%
4. Tim McGraw:  40%

Edison leaked some advance data to Tom Taylor, noting the study “comes at a time when country radio has received unprecedented listening from younger audiences, with higher-than-ever 18-34 listening and surprising strength among 12-to-17 year olds.  The youngest fans show surprisingly mainstream and diverse tastes.”

Edison’s Larry Rosin and Megan Lazovick, along with Millennials expert Jayne Charneski, will present at CRS in Nashville on February 19. Interested in attending? The $499 “regular rate” ends next Monday, January 13. (click to register)

“Where were you when…?”

A recently-released Sony/Nielsen survey asked those-sampled to recall their most memorable TV moment, and if they remembered where-they-were when they watched history happen.

The top 5 moments were:

1. 911
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. O.J. Simpson verdict
4. Space Shuttle Challenger explosion
5. Osama bin Laden death

#42 was the final episode of M*A*S*H.
#43 was The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.
#44 was the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode of Dallas (the-revival-of-which, incidentally, is Summer’s top TV hit).

Drilling-down to demographics:

• People age 55+ rank President Kennedy’s assassination a close second to 911.  
• To young people in the sample, President Obama’s election night speech was #3.
• To women, Princess Diana’s funeral was #4.  To men it was #23.

A reminder to all personalities to constantly update and freshen your demographic target relevant historical references from news talk consultant and friend of A&O Holland Cooke, who reminds me of the great line from the prophetic 2000 book "Millenials Rising:"

"One generation's headline is the next one's punch line."

How To Out Perform Your Market

Why should an American radio station care about trends in Canada? Why should a local Canadian radio station worry about BBM stats on what's happening in other markets?

National average trends indicate "big" things affecting all media and if your individual station can be the one in your town that holds onto cume and TSL while others are losing theirs, just staying flat can help your shares GROW.


Programming and marketing radio can be like sailing. It's possible win the race by letting the prevailing winds blow you to victory but everyone is trying to do that.


Or, you can be the one to "come about," gain advantage by staying out of the "no go zone" and yet moving into waters few others have the courage to enter.

The competition is smaller in number there, of course, so you have a better chance to really stand out as unique.

If you know how to sail in very challenging seas.

Before deciding to go against the wind, it's crucial to fully-understand the prevailing breezes and their impact on everyone in your environment.

Thanks to BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 Radio Databook for providing info on those fast-changing currents.

AM Listeners Are From Mars

... And, it sounds like New York and Chicago's newest radio stations are thinking that their FM listeners will be from Venus.

Both Arbitron and BBM offer some very helpful national perspective on why, even though we all love to cheer on a direct confrontation, it may be that everyone can coexist.

Here are three pages from BBM/Canada's 2010-2011 National Radio Data book which show how different the target audiences available on the two bands are today:



(click each chart to enlarge it in a separate browser window)

Two very nice things about radio warfare:

1, No one can take your audience away from you. You have to give it away.

2. No one dies, unless somebody ends up shooting themself in the foot.

Now There's More Than One "Target"

Age and sex are just the beginning of the things you must know about your audience in order to compete effectively.

Today, you better know where your audience lives, brand preferences - whether its your radio station OR your client's brand, product consumption, lifestyle data, shopping habits, psychographics, use of other media - not just what other radio stations they listen to.

• What is cable penetration in your market?
• Satellite radio?
• How many have smart phones? Which ones?
• Percentage of households by age cell which no longer have land line telephone service?
• Download/streaming preferences? (music discovery priorities)
  
• What part of your survey area has more than average/less than average penetration for country and other forms of music?
• Where do your listeners use you at work?
  
• What other stations do they also use, by daypart and by listening location?
  

The more you know about ALL these things, the more 'on target' your programming and marketing can be.

At Least We're Not Dr. Scholl's (Yet)

Country music radio, in spite of Taylor Swift's amazing success, (click that link to see her artistic sensibilities in the current issue of Marie Claire!), remains largely a Boomer brand, with a big bump in our demographics 45+ (click that link to read the article and blog comments on it which prompts this post).

"No brand can ever rest easy with one target audience, but brands that have relied heavily on Boomers for their success really need to think like Mercedes and consider how they will engage the wave of Gen Y consumers that could be the key to their futures."

Cole & Weber United President/Ad Guy Mike Doherty made me think of the great run country has had for the last 25 years, thanks to the good fortune (brilliant strategy?) of bonding with the boomers back then they were 25-34 and how, now, like Saturday Night Live, CNN and National Geographic, our long heritage requires rethinking our entire approach as we seek to draw the 80-million strong "Millenial" generation, who now dominate 18-24, 25-34, thus 18-49, and within just a few years, 25-54.

"For Gen Y, formats like CNN that were once revolutionary are irrelevant. Headlines along with a touch of analysis are available everywhere. Check out this article for a good read on CNN's woes.

"For Gen Y, content can be informative and educational but must also be very entertaining in the process (à la "The Daily Show" or Huffington Post). There isn't time for both entertainment and information digestion separately. Content providers could learn from sites like www.funnyordie.com and www.break.com. For National Geographic, it seems that with a new face and new ways to distribute its content, it could be reborn as the the content source for conscientious Gen Yers passionate about environmental and cultural issues worldwide."

You can reach all three generations which straddle 25-54 today, but it requires a different mindset and actions now:

• Show that your brand cares about them by involving them in a wide variety of aspects of your business.
• Collaborate with cachet brands (thanks, Taylor!)
• Avoid hype with a simple and clean style that feels fresh, hipper
• Be an active participant in pop culture and embrace the lives of all listeners, including Gen Y. For example, SNL’s Facebook campaign to get Betty White to host is an obvious example of Gen Y's cultural force. They saw how hilarious she was in her Super Bowl spots and turned her hosting gig into a mission. This is particularly interesting as it proves that like Betty White's brand (no offense to her), you don't have to be a new brand to appeal to Gen Y.
• Tell stories. Be informative or educational, but you had better be extremely entertaining in the process.
• Other boomer brands like Tylenol, Bayer, Advil and even Band-Aid could learn how to relate to Gen Y from brands like Vitaminwater, which helped the generation care about staying hydrated.

Need an example closer to home?

Brad Paisley (among, lucky for us, many others) pulls it all off just by being himself. His authenticity, mix of sensitivity, self-deprecation and humor, yet fearlessness in singing about what he stands for may be an even more applicable role model for most of us.

Having something to say and lots of talent completes the package.

Is that you?

It better be if you hope to keep from being seen as the audio equivalent of orthopedic insoles.

Another Sign It's 1988 Or 1998 All Over Again For Country Music Radio

I voted this morning in RBR/Harker Research's latest opinion poll and realized that for many of us the best prize of 2010 hasn't been about money at all.

It's been concert tickets targeting Boomers and X'ers on one hand and Millennial girls on the other: Garth Brooks in Las Vegas for our upper demos and Taylor Swift's arena show for teens and their parents.

One demo isn't all that interested in the prize that the other one is extremely rabid about.

Hopefully, someone is working in a garage right now with a band, an amp or two, perfecting some exciting new sounds and songs that will bridge that gap for us, soon.

Good Manners

Tim Manners writes and edits one of my favorite daily marketing email idea sheets, Cool News, for Reveries Magazine, so he lives and exemplifies the term "relevance" every day for me.

His new book on "Making Stuff That Matters" comes out in five weeks, but as a friend of A&O's here's a jump start on Chapter One of "Relevance" (click to read it all)

"...brands frequently sell themselves short by failing to see their consumers as we see ourselves. More often than not we are more similar than we are different from one another when it comes to what we expect from our brands. "

A Gentle Reminder From Your Calendar

The baby boomers have been starting to hit "retirement age" this year.

On January 1, 1946, an 18 year period known as the post-war baby boom began. In 1946, 3.4 million children were born in the U.S. 78 million babies were born from 1946 to 1964: so, 10,000 people will turn 62 each day for the next ten years. There are 68 million people who are 62+ today, 44 million are 31 to 42 and 72 million are under 31.

PREDICTION: Today's teens and tomorrow's senior citizens are the biggest demo targets of 2008. Common threads that reach both: fun, lifestyle and family.

The smaller in number, but acquisitive age, demos in between feel ignored and misunderstood. Musical preference and attitude differences greatly outnumber similarities. Fragmentation and niche marketing will continue to proliferate, but - thus far - country music radio continues to be at its most successful when targeted 'mainstream.'

Luckily, for country today at a time when our artist base is getting narrower not broader and real 'hit' songs are fewer and farther between, there is more polarity between men and women than there is between younger and older target listeners.

One big change: a song from before 1994 has to have received a lot of airplay in the last five years to still work for you as a cume and TSL magnet if you hope to attract 25-34.

Want To Know About Tomorrow's 25-34 Demo?

Get to know about their goals. Or, if you're the parent of a 12-24 year old, ask them.

To Reach 18-34 (Men, Especially), Surround Them

One way marketers can keep the demo hooked is to literally "surround" young men with the message by using multiple media channels and leaning on branded entertainment vehicles to drive their points home.

Case in point: Axe's "Gamekillers" by Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which plugged the men's deodorant and body sprays in an MTV show and Internet iterations.The effort's fun, multimedia approach helped keep it fresh and combat the "seen it, I'm over it factor that often plagues the demo," said David Rubin, director of brand development at Axe parent Unilever, and Greg Anderson, director of engagement planning at BBH.

According to Rubin, the year the show was on sales of the product rose roughly 96 percent. "Expect to see another show on MTV this September," he said.

The media landscape offers more choices, according to panelists at the Marketing to Men 18-34 Conference presented by Ripe TV and hosted by Adweek and its parent, the Nielsen.