Broadcasters Understand Audiences, Not Communities

From Radio Intelligence:

The biggest problem broadcasters have with their digital assets is that they view these assets as extensions of radio brands which function in a similar fashion.  That is, they mistakenly think the purpose of their digital assets is to attract an audience.

While that will be one purpose it should not be the only one or even the most important one.

But doesn’t it then make sense that page views and uniques are easily the most common metrics used to bonus the performance of radio program directors?  They are being incentivized not to build community but to draw a passive one-way audience!

No wonder it’s not working.  No wonder there’s no community.

This explains why we “push” audiences to the website – because the site is incapable of “pulling” them.

This explains why we have “databases” of listeners rather than “communities” of fans.

This explains why there’s so little opportunity to comment and share station content on our sites – and why so little of it is worth commenting about and sharing with others.

This explains why the average station hasn’t even bothered to create a Facebook landing page aimed at motivating “likes” (i.e., ongoing relationships).

Read more here.