STUDY: SELLING RADIO SPOTS, WEB SITES TOGETHER EARNS BIG DOUGH Jeffrey Yorke – Radio and Records Sold in tandem, on-air spots and radio Web sites could tantalize political campaigns and earn radio stations big revenues, according to a new study by the Media Audit. Bob Jordan, president of the Houston-based research company, says, "Radio stations have a great opportunity to boost their political revenues by aggressively selling their Web sites in addition to selling their airtime. Nearly 70% of radio Web site visitors are active voters compared to approximately 60% for the general market. That's a 15% advantage with radio Web sites."
The company conducted a telephone study of 118,211 randomly selected adults in 88 markets across the nation between January 2006 and April 2007 and found that 68.5% of those who voted in the last local, state or national election also visited a radio station's Web site.
"There is good reason for the solid strength of radio Web sites," said Jim Higginbotham, research chief of the Media Audit. "It starts with the foundation that nearly 75% of adults are Internet users and nearly two-thirds of those Internet users are active voters. Compared to the general market, Internet visitors are 8% more likely to vote. The important thing for radio is that the 17.6% of adult online visitors who go to radio Web sites are even more active voters than the average adult visitor to the Internet."
The Media Audit found that in terms of party affiliation and media use, "both Democrats and Independents match the general market for going online or visiting radio Web sites. However, Republicans show a definite skew to Internet use and visiting radio Web sites. Republicans are nearly 15% more likely to go to radio Web sites compared to the general adult population."
The study also reported that Republicans tend to skew to the business day when going online, while Democrats and Independents tend to skew to late in the day. |