Study: Power 106/Los Angeles Tops Social Influence

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | 5:19pm CT

Radio consultancy Radioscope has published a social media study that places Emmis' Rhythmic CHR KPWR-FM (Power 106)/Los Angeles at the top of the social media influence pile in radio. The first-of-its-kind study analyzed over 25 million tweets, Facebook posts, blogs and forums over the whole of 2011 using technology from Fast Company's "Top Ten Companies to Watch on the Web," Crimson Hexagon.

"In radio, Power 106 doesn't have the most followers, but what they do have is the respect of their social network," said Radioscope Strategy Director Ryan Gallagher. "The difference is between talking, and being talked about. Power 106 has more of their audience's audience, and that's a big deal."

The full report, titled "Radio's New Consumer," synthesizes millions of comments and opinions people have about broadcast radio and its digital audio competitors. Beyond analyzing what online consumers are proactively saying about their audio options, Radioscope gathered the Twitter handles of the top 10 to 15 stations in the top 100 radio markets, and the top Tweeters (stations and personalities) at those top stations, to analyze more than a year's worth of what the radio industry is "broadcasting" out to consumers online.

"This is observational research at scale, the likes of which have not been possible until now. The insights are powerful for anyone working with over-the-air radio," added Gallagher. "This provides a phenomenal sense of where over-the-air radio, as a user-experience, stands with today's consumer, and their audiences, and why."

Other findings from the report include:

• 75% of consumer comments about over-the-air radio are either negative or neutral (and why).
• Closing the value gap: Over-the-air radio gets less credit for being free than the digital competitors (and how to fix it).
• Pandora's key weaknesses in the consumer's mind.
• The emotional drivers and differences between over-the-air radio, and its digital competitors.
• Quantified reasons why over-the-air radio's negative sentiment is greater than its digital competitors, and how to improve.
• Why radio should be championing pause buttons in cars as much as it does receivers in cell phones.
• Full Top 20 "Leaders of Social Influence" in the radio industry (within Top 100 markets, and Top 10-15 rated stations).

"Findings from this report, can help in telling the radio story of our time, and we're proud to leverage Crimson Hexagon's unique technology for this effort," said Gallagher. "This is data-driven quantitative research, but it is also granular and emotional, with actionable insights that can help get out ahead of PPM. Our hope is that it will help highlight radio's competitive advantages against other media channels, and aid in improving its business dynamics."