Radio deserves a second look - media research group

MANILA, Philippines - Advertisers should broaden their perspectives and take a look at other media aside from television, The Nielsen Company has said. Nielsen Media Research executive director Jay G. Bautista said that while majority of Filipinos watch TV, there were also opportunities, particularly in radio, depending on the target market. "Traditional media like TV may not be able to reach certain groups anymore since students are out most of the time, people are commuting, people live further from where they study or work, and traffic [is] getting worse," he said. "All of these factors are changing the landscape of the consumer. Radio is a very mobile medium. We feel there is potential [for radio]; it just needs support and boost," he told BusinessWorld. Nielsen’s Radio Measurement Update 2008 said 98.5% of the Philippine population listen to radio every week, the highest in the region and an improvement from 94.8% in 2006. China, which is the third largest economy in the world, is far behind at 51.6%. There was, however, a decline with respect to the time spent listening to the radio, at 17.17 hours per week last year from 19.24 hours in 2006. This tracks the overall trend in the region where Australia, China, Indonesia, Bangkok, Malaysia and Singapore also saw declines. "New media is competing with the traditional media in terms of attention of consumers such as Internet, mobile phones, and even lifestyle is changing the landscape of how people watch TV and listen to radio," Mr. Bautista said. In the Philippines, the survey said most listeners tuned in to an average of just three stations per week, which he said reflected market maturity. "The lower the figure, the more mature the market is. India [at 4.4] is a new radio market. People are still trying to find their niche in terms of radio station to listen to. They tend to surf a lot," he said. Filipino listeners aged 10 and above were said to favor the music/comedy format, with 90.7 Love Radio and 101.9 For Life cornering a combined 41.2%. The two radio stations captured 42.9% of those aged under 25 years old. "It is driven mostly by lower income groups. If you equate this to TV, Kapamilya (ABS-CBN) and Kapuso (GMA-7) are there [dominating], not the cable stations because they are driven by the masses. Radio is sensitive to demographics in terms of listening," he said. Mr. Bautista said the listening trend in the Philippines has been fairly stable. In Manila, FM stations drove the listening habits of younger Filipinos, while those aged 40 and above were more inclined to listen to AM stations led by dzRH, dzBB, and dzMM. In Mega Manila, the number of those listening to the radio once a week improved during the first quarter of 2008, to 99.8% of the population from 99%. Those listening to AM stations increased to 33.2% from 27%, while FM listeners accounted for 87.3%, down from 89.2%. Mr. Bautista said listening to the radio picks up at 5:00 a.m., and again at 8:00-9:00 a.m., declining around noon as people shift to TV. After lunchtime, radio regains ground around 2:00 p.m., dying down around 6:00-7:00 p.m. as people shift to primetime TV viewing. There are also people who would rather listen to the radio than watch TV at around 9:00-11:00 p.m. And while AM picks up only during 4:00 a.m. and then 6:00-8:00 a.m., it gradually declines for the rest of the day. "The format of FM is attracting listeners. If you look at the profile of AM listeners who are 40 and up, they listen to news and commentary while FM caters to below 39. But mostly 10-29 years old, young adults are driving FM listening," Mr. Bautista said. In Nielsens’ 2007 Media Spend Landscape report, advertisers were said to have increased spending by 8% to P154.67 billion, with TV getting the lion’s share of P119.55 billion. Radio posted a 2% decline to P24.01 billion, while print gained 15% to P10.65 billion. "Radio advertising has been on a decline for the last two years even on AM and FM. If you talk to industry players, there is very few information available on radio that supports investment," Mr. Bautista said. While placing an ad in radio is cheaper at P700-1,000 compared to P300,000 for a 30-second TV commercial, TV got 77% of media spending compared to the 16% and 7% of radio and print. Increasing ownership of MP3 players, meanwhile, appear to have increased radio listenership, Mr. Bautista said. "We asked people if incidence of listening to radio increased or decreased with the ownership of MP3 [players]. It actually increased because they want to know which new song is out in the market so they can download it. It is actually boosting radio listening. It is complementary as more people are spending less time at home," he said. Mr. Bautista said there were more opportunities in radio since TV advertising had reached a saturation point: Viewers can only take so much advertisements. "If you air too much commercials, it affects the effectiveness of the message," he said. - BusinessWorld