The Local Vote 2016: Radio Reaches Most Primary Voters

The latest research from Katz Radio Group has found that 95 percent of Democrats and Republicans, and 96 percent of independents, listen to radio, way more than watch CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC.

Working with Nielsen for its "The Local Vote 2016" polls, Katz surveyed voters in nine states and found that radio is No. 1 in reaching all primary-goers across all political affiliations, somewhat surprising considering the media hype over the importance of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook.

What's more, in many primary states, the third survey found that radio is "a good way for political candidates to reach them," muting talk in some corners that radio had lost its edge.

The surveys are likely to be important to political campaigns because they break down which type of radio formats different voters are listening to, and also show that the reach isn't owned by stations offering up conservative talk shows.

"The Katz 'Local Vote' initiative is designed to unearth valuable in­ time insights to help political advertisers effectively use media to engage voters during a crucial decision­ making time," said Stacey Schulman, executive vice president of strategy, analytics and research for Katz, which represents 3,000 radio and 700 TV stations.   "As we look deeper at voter behaviors across the media spectrum, radio continues to stand out as a cost­ efficient, targetable medium for effective campaign advertising."

Among the latest findings:

• Across the 9 states that Katz Radio Group has studied to date, Radio is consistently the #1 reaching media platform with primary-goers regardless of their party affiliation: Democrats (94%), Republicans (94%) and Independents (95%).
• Among Independents, Radio is used by a larger percentage each week (95%) than Broadcast TV (88%) or Cable TV (86%).
• Independents engage with a diverse set of Radio formats, many of which are used more than national Cable News options. More Independents listen to News/Talk/Sports radio stations (41%) and music formats such as Adult Contemporary (38%), Rock (36%) and Country (32%) than watch Cable News channels CNN (25%), Fox News (19%) and MSNBC (12%).
• Democrats are far more likely to listen to a broad set of radio formats such as Adult Contemporary (39%), Contemporary Hits (36%), News/Talk/Sports (34%), Urban (29%), Classic Hits (29%) and Rock (26%) than watch news outlets like CNN (25%) and MSNBC (18%).
• More Republicans listen to Adult Contemporary (50%), News/Talk/Sports (46%) and Country (37%) radio stations than watch FOX News (34%) or CNN (19%) in a given week.

Their most recent survey was of Wisconsin voters, who are set to vote next Tuesday:

• Nearly 4 out of 10 eligible Wisconsin voters (38%) are undecided about their choice of candidate or whether they will go to the polls. This large share of the electorate (called the "Opportunity Vote") is primed for political messaging.
• Early polling in Wisconsin shows Bernie Sanders with a modest lead over Hillary Clinton (41% vs. 32%), but 27% of Democratic primary-goers are still undecided on whom to cast a ballot for. Meanwhile, the Republican race is hotly contested with no clear front-runner. Among Wisconsin Republican primary-goers, a whopping 41% are still undecided on whom they are voting for.
• Nearly every Opportunity Voter in Wisconsin listens to Radio (94%), a greater percentage than Broadcast TV (91%), Cable TV (83%) and Mobile Internet (58%).
• 7 out of 10 Opportunity Voters believe Radio advertising is a good way for political candidates to connect with them.