For Immediate Release:
Monday, August 2, 2004

Bridge Ratings has completed a series of research projects which tackles the prevailing issue of the impact of heavy commercial content on radio listening.  These audience measurement projects generate a result we call "Audience Attrition Reports."  We wanted to definitively learn how these long stop sets with 4+ minutes of commercials were impacting the actual 'body count' for the stations.  What we found was both interesting and startling:

1. The attrition rate differs from market to market based on the competitive landscape.

2. The attrition rate differs by format as well.

3. Regardless of landscape or format, the truth behind the loss of listenership is staggering and consistent.

Methodology.  Bridge Ratings measures CUME SHARE and FAVORITENESS rather than CUME and Average Quarter Hours.  AQH is a fabricated mathematical measurement of cume x an average quarter hour number composed of 'best guesses' by diary keepers.  Thus, the AQH number tells a station or its client nothing about the capability of the station to deliver listeners.

FAVORITENESS is a better measurement of loyalty especially when combined with the Cume number.  The cume number divided by the favoriteness number yields a conversion number which more accurately measures station loyalty.  In Bridge Ratings studies, stations that convert their cume audience to favoriteness at the rate of 40% or more are powerful instruments in their communities.  This is powerful information for both station and advertisers alike.

In Phoenix, Bridge Ratings measured the attrition rate of listener loss at a station that had a FAVORITENESS number of 42,000 persons at the start of the commercial break.  In this case, the 42,000 number represents a strong market showing.  Based on the interviews we conducted the following represents how the audience count was impacted during one of this station's typical 6 spot commercial breaks:

By the end of the commercial break this station was left with 19% of the audience it brought into the break!  Keep in mind that these are listeners who claim that this station is their "favorite, the one they listen to most."  Imagine what is happening with secondary listeners.

In similar studies conducted in eight markets general attrition fall off occurs at the following rates:

The percentage figure represents the number of listeners who tune out from the amount of audience remaining after each successive commercial.  In the above example, after the first commercial in the break, 20% of the stations audience tuned out.  By the conclusion of commercial number two, 22% of the audience remaining tuned out; 24% of the audience remaining tuned out after spot number three, etc.  Each number is a factor of the one preceding it.

Remember, the above percentages are general averages.  Audience attrition rates vary by format and the competitive nature of the market.

We found this to be extremely enlightening and tactically speaking, the Phoenix station chose to immediately move from six unit stop sets to 3 breaks of 4 spots and is still considering going further to four three unit breaks!

In focus groups conducted following this on-air  change, listeners preferred this commercial load structure.

As the radio industry continues to take a hard look at itself, studies like this will aid broadcasters in truly understanding how their programming impacts listeners' behavior.

The following chart shows audience attrition rates by radio format and by number of commercials in a spot break.

For example, at the start of spot #2 the Adult Contemporary format had 22 percent fewer listeners than at the start of spot #1. At the start of spot #3, 25% of the remaining audience tuned out and so on.

For additional information, contact Dave Van Dyke at 818.291.6420.

Markets: Los Angeles, Oxnard-Ventura, Phoenix, Dallas, Boise, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Chicago

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