The “leaky bucket.”
That’s PPM-talk for stations losing listeners by tuning away or turning the radio off. The traditional thought is that it is easier to keep listeners than to get them back. And darn logical that is, I reckon’!
But that’s only half the story. Or, should I say, two-thirds.
A recent study of 37 million listening occasions conducted by Coleman Insights and Media Monitors found that…
“Nearly two thirds of radio listening occasions are the result of a consumer turning on the radio, listening to a station and turning the radio off.”
Inside Radio
That means we as managers, programmers, and talent need to focus not only on minimizing tune-outs, but in creating TUNE-INs, or what Mark Ramsey refers to as “winning moments!”
“A great morning show isn’t the show that holds listeners longer, it’s the show that has the winning moments that compel listeners to come back later or tomorrow.
A great radio station isn’t simply the one with the fewest tune-outs, it’s the one with the turn-ons listeners want to experience again and again – the moments that remind you to come back and listen again for more moments just like them.”
Mark Ramsey
Perhaps the best example is the Super Bowl! Or perhaps I should say the Super Bowl commercials!
Just for the heck of it I googled “best Super Bowl commercials” and got 50,900,000 results. That’s over 50 million web hits for reasons to TUNE IN!
The very thing that most consider a tune-out – commercials – has been transformed into a huge TUNE-IN because of creativity, investment, and talent.
Here’s another way to look at it:
Let’s pretend you create a highlight reel of the listening occasions to your station in which people simply didn’t tune away. It wouldn’t be a highlight reel at all. It would be a compilation of the bare minimum necessary to keep people from tuning out. You and I can immediately think of stations seemingly designed with nothing more in mind.
But programming that simply avoids the “leaky bucket” doesn’t drive emotions, build relationships, inspire loyalty, or add value to someone’s life.
That’s why programmers and talent that harness the power of compelling storytelling can create winning moments for TUNE IN, the very thing we appreciate about Super Bowl commercials.
57 years ago, no one even thought of tuning to the Super Bowl for the commercials. But that all changed when some talented someones created something worth tuning in for.