Research: Listeners Positive on Contests

Mark Kossof

Researcher and Strategist Mark Kassof  says he’s never pushed contesting as a panacea for stations. After all, he writes:  A good contest can’t make a bad station successful, long-term.

Still, contests are much more in the ballpark of traditional radio than satellite or pure-play online stations, so he was especially interested: Could contests be another weapon in radio’s battle with the upstarts???

To find out, Kassel & Company did an online survey with 608 18-to-64 year olds who had cumed an FM or AM station in the past week.  One of the results of the survey concluded contesting could be a real edge for a traditional radio station.

Kassel says it’s true that contests have no impact on the majority of listeners’ interest in a station, or how much they listen to it.  But there remains a substantial percentage that are impacted by contests, and in an overwhelmingly positive way:

So, what this says is: Most listeners won’t be affected by your contest one way or another.  But at least a third will, and that bump comes with minimal downside.

Kassel says he is blown away by these numbers. Even if we toss in the requisite “grain of salt,” there’s no conclusion other than contesting can be a very good thing!

Find Out More.