Political Pushes Cumulus Positive

3-18-13

Cumulus reported net revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2012 increased $2.9 million, or 1.0 percent, to $284.2 million, compared to $281.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2011. The increase was due to political advertising. Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said the three strongest categories for Cumulus in Q4 were Auto, Real Estate, and Banking.

Dickey also said pacing in the first quarter is down about 2% with January and February down 3% each and March looking a little better. He said consumer spending was "lethargic," with advertisers deferring orders, especially at the network level. In the second quarter, Dickey says, pacing is up about 5% with network business still pacing negative.

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SBS Has a Positive 4th Quarter

On the radio side of SBS, net revenue increased $3.4 million or 11%, primarily due to special events revenue, network sales and barter sales. The increase in special events revenue and network sales occurred in all markets. SBS Chairman and CEO Raul Alarcon said, ?We made significant progress during 2011 in executing our plan and advancing our financial performance. Our results reflect the improving advertising climate and the strength of our diversified media assets in reaching the fast-growing Hispanic audience. We have improved the cash generation of our business considerably through a disciplined approach to cost management, even as we have continued to strategically invest in building our brands, expanding our content and supporting our digital platform. Given the positioning of our assets in the nation?s largest Hispanic markets and the ongoing robust growth of the Spanish speaking population, we remain very optimistic about our long-term outlook given the increasing need for advertisers to reach our audience.?

For the quarter ended December 31, 2011, consolidated net revenue totaled $38.2 million compared to $34.9 million for the same prior year period, resulting in an increase of $3.3 million or 9%. Excluding cyclical political sales for the respective periods, consolidated net revenue totaled $38.1 million compared to $33.7 million for the same prior year period, resulting in an increase of $4.4 million or 13%.

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More Positive Radio Numbers From Arbitron

Arbitron has released cumulative audience estimates for the 56 RADAR-rated networks. Compared to the Arbitron estimates from one year ago, network radio increased its weekly reach among Persons aged 12 and older by nearly half a million listeners.  Network radio reaches almost three out of four Persons age 12 and older each week, according to Arbitron. The September 2011 RADAR 110 report saw an increase in key demographics reached by network radio versus the September 2010 RADAR 106 report period.

Arbitron posts RADAR Radio Network Cume Rankings for Persons aged 18-49 and Persons aged 25-54 HERE. The sample size for the RADAR 110 Report is 395,598 persons aged 12 and older. This large sample is designed to provide more stability for key demographic estimates, dayparts and Market-by-Market Analysis reports, which report all individual DMAs.

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Study of Female Listeners Positive for Radio

7/22/011

Even when prompted by questioners to go negative on radio, the majority of females involved in Alan Burns' study would not take the bait. Burns released details of his second annual national study of women yesterday. 2,000 females between 15 and 54 were interviewed and his conclusion was attitudes toward radio look healthy. ?The news is mostly good. Women?s attitudes toward radio are very positive, and there are no signs that music streaming services like Pandora are eroding radio usage. On the other hand, there?s less love for radio among younger listeners, and while wireless broadband in cars isn?t going to kill radio, it will lower usage somewhat. It will also generate more fragmentation, since broadband will bring more non-local stations into cars.?

The study found that just over 2% of women nationally already have internet access in the car they drive or ride in most often; those women were questioned those women about the choices they make between radio and non-radio sources while on the road. ?Based on the behavior of women who already have internet in their cars, here?s what we think will happen as in-car internet becomes widespread? said Burns (pictured right). ?Daily usage of radio in the car will dip slightly, about 11%, but TSL to radio among those daily users will not dive.?

The study found that 69% of women who have in-car internet still listen to radio all or most of the time they?re in the car.  ?It?s important to note why these women choose radio over non-radio streams in their cars? Burns continued, ?and the big reasons are that radio provides energy, excitement, and local information. Radio needs to maximize those strengths because streaming services are working on ways to negate them.?

Burns says there is significant resistance to paying for internet music streams. According to the study data, less than 3% of women who currently use Pandora pay for unlimited streaming, and only 6.6% of current weekly streamers to any service say they would ?definitely? or ?probably? be willing to pay around ten dollars per month to be able to listen to unlimited streams.

Here are some additional highlights from the study and comments from Burns:
?Early Adopters? are disproportionately heavy radio listeners.  Burns says ?sales should be selling this?early adopters are very valuable consumers.?

The frequency of visits to radio station web sites overall is growing very slowly if at all; the number of women who have visited a radio station site in the past week stands at 27%, which is up only 1 point from last year.

Only 38% of women who have ?liked? a radio station on Facebook rate the station?s posts as interesting.

The  #1 change women would like to see in radio station?s online streams is having the ability to skip songs.  Not repeating the same commercials/PSAs over and over was also rated desirable, by 6 of 10 women.

The most-used music  streaming service is You Tube, followed by Pandora.  Awareness and usage of radio digital ventures like HD Radio and I Heart Radio lagged the leaders significantly.
2% of women have ever used I Heart Radio, and 1.4% have ever listened to HD Radio.

Comprehension of HD Radio is low. Less than half the women who have heard of HD Radio could accurately answer questions like ?do you have to buy a special radio to hear HD Radio?? and ?do you have to pay a monthly fee to listen to HD Radio??

While time stress is still a major problem for women, money worries have overtaken it. 70% of the women surveyed chose ?more money? over ?more time?, ?a better relationship with my significant other?, and ?sex more often.? 

(7/22/2011 11:26:10 AM)
How much trouble would it be to give results breakdowns (for any survey) by FM vs. AM?
(7/22/2011 8:56:20 AM)
It's anecdotal, I know...but almost every complaint about a radio station I've ever taken...has been from a man.

Most women seem very satisfied with what radio stations do. It's the guys who continually gripe about the short playlists, gripe about not playing some new act, gripe sometimes just to be griping. It would be interesting for someone to look into the radio battle of the sexes more often.

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