Urban Radio in the PPM World.

Urban radio has an unmatched ability to reach and motivate African American consumers on behalf of advertisers and marketers, according to a new presentation by ROI Media Solutions that debuted at Interep’s 9th Annual “Power of Urban Radio Symposium.”

Based on the insights into the radio audience from Arbitron Inc.’s (NYSE: ARB) new Portable People Meter (PPM) electronic ratings system, the presentation shows that radio continues to be a very influential medium among African-American consumers – reaching 97 percent of all Black persons age 12 and older each week.

Alfred C. Liggins, III, chief executive officer and president, Radio One, Inc. stated: “Electronic measurement is providing compelling evidence about the power of Urban radio to reach and engage the African-American consumer. It is also demonstrating the ‘working persons’ advantage that Urban radio offers marketers who want to reach the brand conscious and brand loyal African-American consumer.”

Black audiences continue to be extremely loyal to Urban radio. A full 75 percent of all African-American listeners age 12 and older spend most of their listening time with Urban radio, their number one format preference.

“No other medium engages, captivates and motivates the African-American community like Urban Radio. It always has, and this study makes clear that it still does — in a powerful way,” said David Kennedy, chief executive officer and vice chairman of the board, Interep.

The presentation was prepared by ROI Media Solutions in Los Angeles with the support of Arbitron and in consultation with the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) and a joint industry committee of Urban format broadcasters from Emmis; Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Cox Radio, Service Broadcasting, Radio One, Inner City Broadcasting, Interep and KATZ.

The presentation’s other key findings include:

Urban radio is the best way to effectively and efficiently reach the Black consumer. In Philadelphia, which is one of two top markets currently measured by the PPM system, over 91 percent of Black listeners age 12 and older listened to at least one the five Urban radio stations over the course of a typical week.

Employment status and income levels play a profound role in the appeal of Urban radio for advertisers and marketers. PPM ratings indicate that two thirds (67 percent) of the African-American daytime radio audience (Monday-Sunday 6am-7pm) is employed full or part-time. This is a higher percentage of employed listeners than the overall Philadelphia radio audience (62 percent).

The report also highlighted the importance of the Black community to the local Philadelphia economy, the first market to be measured by the Arbitron Portable People Meter. African-Americans make up 20 to 30 percent of the customer base for major Philadelphia retailers and financial institutions. In terms of reaching the consumer, radio ads on Urban radio proved to be most effective in that nearly 30 percent of listeners felt that the ads would move them to seek more information about a product, while 25 percent felt the ads were interesting and engaging.*

“This study demonstrates that the only way to truly reach the African-American community is with Urban radio. That is a powerful thing. I’m especially proud of how so many groups within the radio industry came together to work on this study on urban radio in the new measurement world,” said Rick Cummings, president, Emmis Radio.

“ROI’s presentation points out great insights for Urban radio in a PPM world. First, and most importantly, employed persons drive radio ratings. The ever increasing consumer power of African-American households and the correlation to radio’s highly employed audience shows advertisers they are reaching the consumers they want,” said Julian Davis, director of Urban Media Services, Arbitron. “Advertisers want to reach people who want to buy their products, and Urban radio delivers. Second, as station ratings become more compressed, it’s important to look at both the ratings and the qualitative information for each station when making decisions about how best to reach these consumers.”

“As the industry shifts to a new way of looking at radio it is important to understand that listening habits have not changed – rather the measurement used to estimate listening has changed,” said Pierre Bouvard, president, sales and marketing, Arbitron. “The data in this report demonstrates that the PPM methodology gives us compelling insight into how to target and reach the essential African-American consumer segment.”

An ongoing sales and marketing resource for Urban radio stations

“Urban Radio in the PPM World” is designed to be an “open source” presentation that Urban broadcasters can use to sell the value of their radio stations to advertisers and marketers. Radio station sales and marketing executives will be able to incorporate their own “real world” Portable People Meter ratings experience into the presentation’s current modules. As new insights into marketing effectiveness of Urban radio are developed in future PPM markets, the goal is to incorporate the findings into the source presentation.

To download report CLICK on link below (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):
http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/urbanradio-ppmworld.pdf http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/urbanradio-ppmworld.pdf>