New Data Correlates Social Engagement with Radio Ratings

Jelli, the cloud platform for radio, has released new data that shows a direct correlation between an increase in social engagement with higher ratings for traditional radio broadcasts. In addition, the company provided data showing how socially-engaged listeners interact with traditional radio spots that were aired during these broadcasts.

Building upon recently published research by Nielsen about the correlation between Twitter engagement and television ratings, Jelli analyzed data over the past year related to audience engagement with radio, another massive traditional medium like television which is beginning to see a more active "feedback loop" during broadcasts.

During a 13 week period, Jelli measured weekly active registered users who were using Jelli's online or mobile app to vote to choose the music played during live broadcasts on five different radio stations based in four cities across the United States.

The results were:  Weekly social engagement for the sample stations increased 127%, and Ratings (i.e., weekly cume) for those stations increased 30%.

The five radio stations measured were owned by three different radio groups and represented a range of musical formats. There was no common promotion or other connection between the stations, other than the use of the Jelli platform to enable their audiences to choose the music broadcast on air in real time.

In addition to driving ratings, Jelli also measured how the audience reacted to radio spots served when the audience was engaging with the broadcasts. When a radio spot played on the air, a synched display ad from the advertiser was presented to the listeners online and via mobile apps.

Mike Dougherty

The results were:  0.10% to 0.15% of the weekly cume ratings base (i.e., all listeners) took some action with the advertising. This is roughly two to three times typical performance of online display advertising, and 1 to 3% of logged-in listeners clicked through on the display portion of the ad.

"Our data shows that higher social engagement levels can have a direct impact on increasing overall audience size as measured by traditional ratings," said Mike Dougherty, Jelli's CEO. "In addition, adding a 'feedback loop' to a one-way broadcast can drive measurable brand engagement with the traditional radio spots aired on these broadcasts."