New Data Suggests Radio Losing Ground For Music Discovery

NuVoodoo Media Services, a data-driven media marketing, programming and content intelligence provider, presents the second installment of its spring webinar series starting Monday, March 18th with results from NuVoodoo’s latest Ratings Prospects Study.

The study of 3,084 respondents, ages 14-54, across all PPM markets. Recent data, collected in January of this year, suggest that FM Radio is losing ground as the biggest source of music discovery among most listeners, the majority of whom discover music through YouTube, with Spotify and Pandora following YouTube’s lead.

Leigh Jacobs, Executive Vice President, Research Insights, NuVoodoo Media Services, explained: “When asked, “Which of these sources would you expect to be good at helping you discover music you do not know, but fits your taste?”, the majority answered YouTube. Among likely ratings respondents and those who listen to FM at least two hours a day, FM is no better than tied with YouTube as a music discovery source.”

While these music discovery stats are not a feel-good, Mike O’Connor, Executive Vice President, Marketing, NuVoodoo Media Services, notes: “Those with a glass-half-full attitude will realize that forming a local community of YouTube channel subscribers can help boost a station's image as curator among local influencers. And, when it comes time for paid digital marketing, every YouTube interaction can be bundled as seed data for retargeting and lookalike audiences. These so-called “first party” data relationships give stations a huge advantage over their competitors.”

Carolyn Gilbert, President and Chief Executive Officer, NuVoodoo Media Services, noted: “Though these findings are dismaying - especially given radio’s long-held dominance over all other media as the place to discover new releases or artists - smart radio marketers will see a distinct opportunity to leverage YouTube’s popularity as a source for music discovery to strengthen their connections with listeners and extend their station brands in a powerful way. We invite all radio professionals to learn more about the opportunities and insights uncovered by our latest Ratings Prospects Study in the second installment of our Spring 2019 Webinar Series beginning Monday, March 18th at Noon Eastern.”

The NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study is conducted twice a year to learn more about those who are most likely to say “yes” to the opportunity to wear a meter or fill out a diary in order to provide NuVoodoo clients with competitive insights and advantages that they can exploit to capture higher ratings. This is the 13th Ratings Prospects Study that NuVoodoo has completed since 2011.

NuVoodoo will launch the second installment of its Spring 2019 Webinar Series, starting on Monday, March 18th at Noon EST (with two more opportunities to participate through Monday, March 25th). 

Register for one of the three 30-minute webinars at nuvoodoo.com/webinars/.