A fresh round of hostilities involving the city’s radio stations has broken out after A. G. Nielsen, unquestionably the most credible poll survey firm serving the media industry, came out with its latest survey ratings on their rankings and radio audience share.
Bombo Radyo DYFM reaffirmed its dominance of the local radio industry, a position that it captured nearly 30 years ago and never yielded, well ahead of second-place Aksyon Radyo DYOK. Third place is RMN 774 while DYSI Super Radyo occupied the cellar position.
Survey ratings are always a sensitive issue for radio networks. It is a source of pride for the front-runner and a thorn on the side of the other radio stations. It is a tool that advertising companies use in determining which stations to place their product plugs. Hence, on the business side, a good rating equals more advertising revenue. It is also a morale booster for the men and women working for the station. Being number one is often equated with being the best in the field.
But as this latest survey result released by A.G. Nielsen triggered this word war over the air lanes, we should also examine its significance in the changing world of media.
What is unsaid in the surveys, or kept hidden I should say, is the fact that radio is losing its listenership base rapidly, especially with the advent of the “tele-novelas” of the major TV networks. These days, there’s hardly a household that doesn’t have a TV set, and radio has since ceased to be the primary source of information and entertainment.
I will make an educated guess that the radio audience has been reduced by more than half of what it used to be 10 years ago. This is particularly true in the early evening prime time slot between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. During this time of day, more than three-fourths of the potential audience are watching television. Gone are the days when the radio commentary programs dominated the community’s attention.
The Ilonggo audience is also becoming more discriminating and choosy about the program content they will listen to. They want substance in the news and commentary that they hear, and not just the unrestrained, bombastic character assassination that has become the forte of Novie Guazo, Rhod Tecson and Roger Gencianeo. Listeners want intelligent discussion of the issues, and not plain, and often repetitive, attacks on public figures.
There’s also a catch to the surveys.
The entire spectrum of the radio audience is not adequately covered. That’s because the class “A” and “B” listeners are often at work when the surveys are undertaken, and not too many of them respond to field workers of the survey firms.
Hence, the ratings most likely depict the preferences of the audience classes “C” and “D” and “E”, which are in the lower income levels. By the nature of the listeners’ profiles, they are also susceptible to “promos” usually undertaken by the radio stations when surveys are on-going. When radio stations engage in heavy promo activities, it is highly probable there is a survey going on, and these are targeted at listeners to literally “lock” them for the duration of the survey.
Of course, radio listeners will always have individual preferences, survey or no survey. It doesn’t follow that surveys will dictate listener behavior, or influence radio audiences to shift to the number one in the rating game. As I said, the surveys are primarily to guide advertising companies in choosing where to place their plugs.
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