At Jelli, we are passionate about the intersection between the web and traditional broadcasting. So we were very interested when Neilsen recently published research confirming a correlation between Twitter and TV ratings.
Radio is another massive traditional medium like television which is beginning to see a more active “feedback loop” during broadcasts. Recently, some others in radio like Lori Lewis and Jacobs Media have started to take a look into this (“Social Nielsen”).
Today Jelli released new data that shows a direct correlation between an increase in social engagement with higher ratings for traditional radio broadcasts, and high levels of engagement with traditional radio spots.
First, some context for those new to Jelli. We are a cloud-based, social radio platform that combines the reach of broadcasting with the engagement of the web and mobile. One way we do this is by allowing listeners to use the web or our iPhone and Android apps to control in realtime which songs are played live on the air on local FM stations across the United States and internationally. Listeners can also engage with each other in a highly social, fun, group listening experience during the live broadcast.
Ratings
We analyzed data over the past year related to audience engagement with radio. During a 13 week period, we measured weekly active registered users who were using Jelli’s online or mobile app to vote to choose the music played during live broadcasts on five different radio stations based in four cities across the United States.
The results were:
- Weekly social engagement for the sample stations increased 127%, and
- Ratings (i.e., weekly cume) for those stations increased 30%.
The five radio stations measured were owned by three different radio groups and represented a range of musical formats. There was no common promotion or other connection between the stations, other than the use of the Jelli platform to enable their audiences to choose the music broadcast on air in real time.
Advertising
In addition to driving ratings, we thought we would analyze how the audience reacted to radio spots served when they were engaging with the broadcasts. When a radio spot played on the air, a synched display ad from the advertiser was presented to the listeners online and via mobile apps.
The results were:
- 0.10% to 0.15% of the weekly cume ratings base (i.e., all listeners) took some action with the advertising. This is roughly two to three times typical performance of online display advertising, and
- 1 to 3% of logged-in listeners clicked through on the display portion of the ad.
Summary
This data demonstrates that higher social engagement levels can have a direct impact on increasing overall audience size as measured by traditional ratings.
In addition, adding a ‘feedback loop’ to a one-way broadcast can drive measurable brand engagement with the traditional radio spots aired on these broadcasts.
We’re happy to contribute this data alongside the work Twitter and Neilsen are doing with TV, to provide new insights about the intersection between radio and social media.
Stephen Dougherty
DIRECTOR ADVERTISER PLATFORMS
