Three Things for June 30, 2021
From the Public Impact Group
This is Three Things for public media leaders for June 30, 2021.
Here's what's up this week:
Trust and Local TV News
Did you know that August is National Make-A-Will Month?
The State of Public Radio Music Stations
THING ONE: Trust, Local TV News, and Something Different
First of all, I have a confession: I rarely watch local television news. But, I’m also a believer that data doesn’t lie. So when various research studies show the influence and importance of local television news in most communities, I will pay attention to this information.
The graph below is from a Pew Research study released in 2019 that looked at local news dynamics in cities across America. If you’ve never reviewed this study, it’s a good lesson in humility for many of us in public media who believe our service is the most important news outlet in our community. Spoiler Alert: In most places, we’re not.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has just released its tenth edition of its Digital News Report, and it casts light on the key issues that face the industry at a time of deep uncertainty and rapid change. The headline grabber from this global research project is that U.S. media is the least trustworthy in the world, according to the survey encompassing 46 countries. But when you dive deeper into the data, you can also measure the clear divisions in this country pertaining to news outlets. But the standout brand in terms of trust to Americans is local TV news.
NPR is in the middle of the pack, with the BBC in the top five. But, with the trust and reach of local television news, I was intrigued to learn about an experiment happening at the San Jose-based NBC affiliate branded as NBC Bay Area1 with its 7 p.m. nightly newscast. Raj Mathai, anchor of NBC Bay Area News Tonight, told his audience in the first week of broadcasts that they will “go beyond the 30-second sound bites and get you better informed on the big stories of the night.”
The idea will be to go deep on a few stories and do “a more thoughtful, reflective newscast. It’s just really nice to not just give the beginning and the end of the story, but give the middle of a story, ” according to Mathai. That sounds very public radio-ish to me.
Even the weather forecasts for these newscasts will be different, with detailed explainers about climate change added into the mix with traditional forecasts.
NBC Bay Area General Manager Stacy Owen even notes that the station is looking at different metrics to measure the success of the newscast.
“We measure everything by engagement and impact. And even when we look at ratings, we don’t look at them as numbers, we look at them as how many people we were able to impact today,” Owen says. “It’s not a traditional KPI [key performance indicator]. But we do track that: where are we actually having tangible impact in our communities? So that’s very important.”
What’s intriguing and refreshing is whether others will adopt this approach. With the headstart that local TV news has with its reach and influence, this will push those of us in public media to continue innovating and finding ways to expand our reach as competitors look to carve away some of the loyalty and trust we have with our existing audience.
THING TWO: Add National Make-A-Will Month To Your August Marketing Plans
As we turn the page to a new month (and a new fiscal year for many), July is a great time to think about new revenue opportunities. Earlier this week, the folks at FreeWill2 offered a webinar looking a fundraising strategies for the fall focused on planned and major giving.
One of the ideas they shared was to make a significant marketing push around National Make-A-Will Month in August. I suppose you only thought that August was for National Crayon Collection Month or National Goat Cheese Month3. In that case, you’re not alone. But just because you weren’t aware of National Make-A-Will month should not be a reason to consider how public radio could use this idea to its advantage.
Most public radio stations4 aren’t doing any on-air membership campaigns in August, bringing an opportunity for stations to use this month to be a resource to your audience on the importance of having an estate plan. According to FreeWill, its nonprofit partners secured more than $83 million in bequests in August last year by marketing the concept. A multi-channel marketing approach during the month using on-air, online, email, targeted direct mail, and social media could bring a powerful ROI for stations at a time when we’re all looking at generating new revenue.
FreeWill offers three marketing tips for nonprofits that have proven to be effective for its clients:
Make-A-Will Month is the perfect moment to demystify will-making for your supporters.
Make it easy & free for everyone to make a will by going to FreeWill.com.
Emphasize how making a will and leaving a gift to your organization benefits both you and your donors. Using the NPR 50th anniversary as a message point can also be a powerful way signal the longevity of your organization in the community.
One final note: seek to segment your messaging as much as possible demographically. A message to appeal to a 55-year-old about creating a will is probably very different than a message to a 35-year-old.
One additional planning note - National Estate Planning Awareness Week is October 18 - 24, giving Development staff another opportunity to be a resource to potential planned giving prospects.
THING THREE: Mixed Audience Trends for Public Radio Music Stations
Last week we looked at Nielsen Audio trends for NPR News stations in PPM markets since the beginning of the year, noting the downward trend in market share for most stations since January.
Recent history has shown that music formats make up more than 25% of the weekly listening to public radio. Hence, it’s crucial to monitor the audience trends for those stations as radio listening continues to rebound after 15 months.
For classical music stations, the trendline is somewhat similar to NPR news stations, with an overall downward trend in AQH share occurring since January 2021. However, the loss of market share for classical formats is not as severe as NPR News stations. The decreased market share is more of a factor of overall radio listening increasing and not a significant amount of lost listening.
The ratings winner for public radio, though, is AAA format stations, as demonstrated by the two charts below. In early June, the Radio Research Consortium examined how five AAA stations were performing, noting that many of those stations are doing better now than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Five stations, in particular, are worth noting: WYMS-Milwaukee; KRCL-Salt Lake City; WXPN-Philadelphia; KUTX-Austin; KEXP-Seattle.
For these five stations as a whole, AVG Weekly Cume dropped by 16% from 2019 to 2020 due to the pandemic. Average Quarter Hour Persons on the other hand was flat for 2020 and led to a combined AQH Share increase of 37%. That’s because AVG Weekly Time Spent Listening increased for each of these stations while listening to radio as a whole decreased. AVG Weekly Cume is now up 3% for APR21 vs. 2019, and AVG Weekly TSL continues to increase in 2021.
The market share from January - May 2021 of a larger group of AAA stations shows most stations holding their own as the universe of radio listeners returned close to pre-COVID levels.
I’m going to suggest that it’s the strong local connection that these stations have to their audience that’s the driver behind the recent strength of this format. That connection, having the on-air talent that knows the audience and the community, is something still missing from music streaming services. Fred Jacobs points that out in a blog post that discusses the “need states” for each audio platform taken from some research from Jeff Vidler of Signal Hill Insights.
Listeners get it. You don't feel a true connection to a medium if it's not live and in the moment. Streaming music, owned music, podcasts – all canned. They could have been recorded yesterday…or in 2019. You can pause and rewind them. Yes, they can be entertaining, and in the case of podcasts, even informative. But they aren't live. They aren't in real time. They aren't connected to anything remotely local or in real time.
A great radio station stands for something – music, entertainment, personality, community spirit, service. These other audio media occupy time but lack a sense of belonging.
That’s a North Star for radio that we need to be reminded of every day.
Thanks for reading. Please comment and share your thoughts on these ideas, as I would love to hear from you.
The Knight-Cronkite News Lab provided a detailed summary of the experiment at NBC Bay Area.
FreeWill provides estate planning resources for individuals and nonprofits.
August is also Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, International Peace Month, Medic Alert Awareness Month, Motorsports Awareness Month, National Brownies at Brunch Month, Get ready for Kindergarten Month, Black Business Month, National Immunization Awareness Month, Family Fun Month, National Catfish Month, National Eye Exam Month, National Golf Month, National Peach Month, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month, National Back to School Month, National Wellness Month, Happiness Happens Month, National Sandwich Month, National Water Quality Month, Romance Awareness Month, National Goat Cheese Month, National Panini Month
Worth noting that public television is in pledge in August.