Wednesday, March 16, 2005

iPods as prizes

Doug Erickson, who does everything from consulting major morning personality shows to an oldies network in France from his Englewood, Colorado, office (303.290.8839) hit the nail on the head and calls an important new study to our attention..

If you're considering doing an iPod promotion -- your timing is perfect as this research brief from the Center for Media Research shows.

Are iPods a threat to your station? Well, that's a long discussion for another time, perhaps. But your listeners are buying them, and using them, and ignoring them doesn't seem wise to me.

Why not ask each winner for a list of their 50 favorite songs, and pre-load them, along with a personal greeting from your Morning Show?The technology isn't our enemy; it's our own lack of creativity we need to fight.

Music Players Hit the Adult Market
A survey between January 13 and February 9 by the Pew Internet &American Life Project reports that more than 22 million American adults (age 18 and older) have iPods or MP3 players. And, though the study did not include teens, the review suggests that there are likely several million more MP3 players owned in the teen world.

iPods/MP3 player ownership demographics look like this:

*14% of men have the players, compared to 9% of women.
*19% of those under age 30 have iPods/MP3 players
*14% of those ages 30-39 have them
*14% of younger Baby Boomers (ages 40-48) own them
*iPods/MP3 players are found to be gadgets for the upscale. 24% of those who live in households earning more than $75,000 have them

1 comment:

Albright and O'Malley said...

Mark Patric (mpatric@jrfm.com), Music Director/APD/On Air, 93.7 JRfm/600am Radio, (www.jrfm.com/www.600am.com), Vancouver adds:

Podcasting bits sounds like a great idea and a great way to battle Ipods. Why not offering hours of programming too online and selling it for a fee for people travelling but don't want to miss out on their favourite station? You download online at the stations site for a fee and there would be daily podcasts available with news, sports and weather with the best jock bits of the day intertwined with the best music. I understand the music may be a tough or expensive part of this occasion but could it work?

Think when you get on an airplane in Canada...we all get to watch The National on CBC with THAT DAYS news. Why can't radio do this daily but with music too? Give them a few hours of programming.