Report: How Radio Can Help TV Reach Consumers

It's getting tougher for traditional TV to reach consumers; however, Pierre Bouvard, CMO of Cumulus and Westwood One, has just blogged about how radio can help.

Bouvard cites a half-dozen reasons that “while still a powerful medium for advertisers, it’s getting harder to find the eyeballs on TV these days.”

Key points include:

• Total TV audiences are down. Primetime ratings were down 7% January 2015 versus January 2016, according to media analysts MoffettNathanson.
• Millennial TV viewing is seeing an even sharper drop. Only 73% of 18- to 34-year-olds are reached by TV in a week, according to Nielsen.
• Nearly half of primetime viewing is time shifted. Nielsen reports only 56% of primetime viewing is live.
• Netflix is responsible for 50% of TV viewing erosion. MoffettNathanson recently calculated that half of U.S. TV’s viewing drop is due to Netflix.

Heavy streaming usage among young demographics explains the drop in TV viewing. Nielsen reports:

• Half of U.S. homes have Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Instant Video.
• Among upscale homes with $75,000+ incomes, streaming subscriptions soar to nearly two-thirds.
• 74% of homes headed by Millennials 35 and younger subscribe to one of the video streaming services.
• 1 in 5 American homes have a smart TV, according to Nielsen. Prevalence is even higher in upscale homes.

Pierre Bouvard

“Despite these six challenges, TV is still an excellent ad medium. There is a way to improve TV impact: adding radio to the media plan boosts exposure among consumers who are only lightly exposed to a TV campaign,” Bouvard writes.

He cites a recent Nielsen case study that found radio doubles campaign frequency among the 40% of Americans who were lightly exposed to the TV campaign.

“TV time spent and reach are down. Younger and upscale consumers are spending more time with streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Radio can compensate for the loss of TV tuning and reach by amplifying impact among light and medium TV viewers.”