RBR-TVBR Exclusive:
One of the great things about radio as an advertising medium is that it can deliver targeted demographics while still providing mass appeal. An advertiser that wants to zero in on a specific age group or gender can generally find a handful of stations in a given market that will reach the desired group, and will pull in a large number of other people who may not be in the specific target but who may also be potential customers.
Demographics typically targeted are age, sex and ethnicity. Take the characteristics of a particular format into account and lifestyle can be added to the mix of traits that can inform station selection when planning an advertising campaign.
The massive database at BIGresearch provides other ways to look at the relationship between radio stations, consumers and retail outlets. Today we’re going to take a look at the relationship between radio formats and occupation groups. What are the favorite musical styles of business owners? Clerical workers? The unemployed? BIG has that data, and we’re going to parse some of it out right now.
First a word on how BIG gets its radio format data. You will not find the kinds of words used by radio professionals in this report, because those are not the words used by typical consumers. We may think of something as falling into CHR or Adult Contemporary – but a consumer would not – the consumer will think of a type of music. BIG has chosen Top 40/Pop on its list of 18 styles that its survey respondents have to choose from. They may choose more than one, just as an AC station may put music on its playlist that may have edged over from the worlds of Rock or Country. To use this list, just translate the type of music your station uses to your own professional format name.
We will be looking at 11 occupational categories, three of which are essentially groups of the unoccupied – retired, unemployed and disabled citizens. We’ll start with the largest group and work our way down, giving the percentage of people in the group, aned then the top and bottom three radio programming styles for each. Formats that are not mentioned either just missed the cut, but more likely are crowding toward the middle, which would be near the number in parentheses after the occupational category.
Professional/Managerial (28.7%)
The biggest group, and a very desirable target group – we were surprised Top 40/Pop did so well, and Classical so poorly, but not at all surprised to see News and Talk in the top three.
Top 3
36.0% Top 40/Pop
33.8% News
33.5% Talk
Bottom 3
24.3% New Age
26.0% Classical
26.0% Latin/Hispanic
Retired (15.4%)
This is perhaps the most completely and unsurprising category. Oldies, and Really Old Oldies (Classical) are favorites, but spare us that crazy kid’s stuff.
Top 3
21.8% Oldies
21.1% Classical
19.6% News
Bottom 3
1.5% Hip Hop
2.5% Alternative
5.3% Latin/Hispanic
Clerical/service worker (10.2%)
This is a group likely to be listening in-office. Religious music is a somewhat surprising first choice, but not at all surprising to see Sports on the bottom list.
Top 3
13.5% Religious
13.0% Top 40/Pop
12.1% Country
Bottom 3
7.7% New Age
7.7% Classical
8.1% Sports
Unemployed (7.6%)
It is very unfortunate that this category has so many members. The formats listed show that the unemployed are essentially a very young group.
Top 3
10.5% Alternative
10.5% Rock
10.0% Hip Hop
Bottom 3
5.3% Talk
5.4% News
6.0% Religious
Student (high school or college) (7.4%)
This category has very wide disparities – you are either in with the kids, or you are not. News and Talkers can just about forget it.
Top 3
16.0% Hip Hop
14.5% Alternative
13.8% Latin/Hispanic
Bottom 3
3.6% Talk
4.1% News
4.5% Country
Business Owners (6.2%)
Blues managed to get the top spot, but it is very much a limited niche musical genre. Again, no surprise that News and Talk are big with this group.
Top 3
8.7% Blues
7.9% News
7.9% Talk
Bottom 3
4.6% Latin/Hispanic
4.7% Top 40/Pop
5.3% Religious
Homemaker (4.7%)
This would have been a MUCH larger category when we were kids, but these days it’s hard to find many families with only one breadwinner. Notice the lack of big separation fro the top 3 and the total of the demo in general – lots of formats did pretty well.
Top 3
5.6% Country
5.2% New Age
4.9% Top 40/Pop
Bottom 3
1.6% Sports
2.5% Blues
2.5% Jazz
Salesperson (4.2%)
One of the more random charts produced via this study – if you see a pattern, you have better eyesight than we do.
Top 3
6.1% Latin/Hispanic
5.2% Alternative
5.2% Sports
Bottom 3
3.1% Religious
3.2% Country
3.3% Oldies
Factory worker/laborer/driver (4.0%)
There is evidence in this blue collar category of a more raw taste in audio entertainment, and an unsurprising lack of interest in Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
Top 3
5.5% Sports
5.4% Rock
5.2% Alternative
Bottom 3
2.5% Classical
3.1% Top 40/Pop
3.4% News
Disabled (2.9%)
Thankfully, a small group, lacking both a discernible listening pattern, nor much of a reason to be targeted except for the odd medical advertiser.
Top 3
3.9% Country
3.8% Oldies
3.8% Rock
Bottom 3
1.7% Latin/Hispanic
1.7% News
1.8% Talk
Military (0.8%)
The smallest occupational demographic on this list, but there are certain markets with major military installations that will pay attention. If nothing else, this chart appears to demonstrate a strong minority presence in today’s armed services.
Top 3
1.7% Latin/Hispanic
1.6% Hip Hop
1.3% Sports
Bottom 3
0.4% Oldies
0.5% Country
0.6% Talk
Source: BIGresearch
