Our station group has brought in a consultant who has presented some numbers that I would like to confirm.
He has stated that nationwide the average amount of unique advertisers per station is between 100 and 120. Keep in mind that this is not across multiple stations, but rather per station.
With these numbers in mind, a 4 station group like ours should have between 400 and 480 unique advertisers on air.
Does this track with you guys?
I don't agree with the aggregate. That being said it has been my experience, and I know a LOT of stations, that the average radio company seems to have about 300 customers. In the case of my 6 station group that number is about 280-300 and 80% of my business comes from my top 18%. Hope this helps!
Only if they're in four completely different markets. Otherwise, you're assuming that none of the 100-120 advertising on station A will advertise on stations B, C, or D. In reality, MOST of those 100-120 advertisers will also be advertising on some combination of, or all of, the other three.
Taking clusters out of the equation, say you have a market with two competing signals. Each one, by his numbers, have between 100 and 120 unique advertisers. But MOST of them will be the same businesses covering both audiences. Some will actually be unique to each station. Because maybe the Christian book store doesn't want to advertise on the death metal station ... as much as an adult toy store wouldn't likely market on a gospel station.
More more sense that way?
Radio stations are somewhat like finger prints. There's AM, FM, 100K,-50K, directional that's just a few of the technical differences between stations, throw in the qualitative measurements and it's easy to see the guru isn't being realistic.Market size is a big factor. A publication called Sales and Market Management publishes a market profile for just about every market in the US. The publication is free to the media,I have used the data to built proposals and predict out comes for radio.Most sales and marketing professional rely on SM&M to obtain realistic goals. Check it out.The guru may just be a management ploy to work you harder or shift blame.
Hi everyone,
Besides being a station owner, I've also been providing lots of consultancy through recent years. However, I reside in Europe, so my approach might be a bit different than yours in the US. Anyway, this method worked in stations in 11 countries, so it might also work for you, even though it might be different than what you consider an industry standard.
Let's do not assume anything. Instead, let's play the exact game, by doing a reverse math.
1) The maximum advertising per hour is, in most countries I've been working in, 20% (12 minutes per hour)
2) 12 minutes per hour is 24 slots of 30 seconds per hour. As the night hours are in best case offered as a free bonus, let's picture the ideal scenario, and say that the maximum you can sell is 15 hours. This gives us 24x15= 360 slots per day, for a 100% load of commercials in each hour.
3) At our station, the average advertising deal with local clients is 6 daily repeatings. Based on this real life example, this brings us to the final result: 60 customers x 6 repeatings x 0:30 spots for a 100% advertising time load. This model is what I suggest to each and every commercial station I've been worked with.
The amount of 120 advertisers would mean that you need to either double the total advertising time (I don't think that anyone in planet would be able to survive with 24 minutes of traffic, even if it was allowed by regulations), or half the average daily repeatings from 6 to 3, or to schedule the campaigns only in 15 days per month, or to deal with 0:15 spots.
In short words: 120 advertisers as a target looks like a fairy tale for me. Next time your consultants spill out any numbers, ask to be explained the precise math behind them. If they cannot present you the exact formula that makes sense, well... you know what I mean.
Not to forget, 0:30 provides enough time for a decent commercial, and yes, your advertisers will be able to sense the feedback from 6 repeats a day, if your ratings are decent. However, evenly distributed repeatings in the same hours from day to day won't work. You need to create the variable schedules (by selecting different breaks and hours day by day, and separating the same business categories). Check if your traffic software can do this quickly and automatically. Otherwise, upgrade not only the consultants, but also the software.
Regards from Europe,
Vladimir
