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CHR's: BOOST TEEN NUMBERS NOW
Source: Sabo Media Research -- Jun 28, 2002
SABOmedia
Special to Music clients:
WIN MORE TEENS NOW From Sabo Media Trend Analysis
Trouble in teen town. 4% decrease in teen listening during the past 12 months. A general "sense" that teens are listening less. Statistically, this decline is meaningless, but radio executive concern is real.
This article features five ways to attract more teens. But first, it is necessary to remember that every teen station program director has been confronted with this demand: "We need fewer teens and more 18-24's for sales." Until Teens stopped coming to easily, few stations had any interest in pubescent profits. Good reasons too. Teen accounts usually buy only one media outlet and there are few pure "teen" buys.
Research from Mercury Research and MTV provides the context for our recommendations. Teens have grown up with TV channels that cater to them and only to them. Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and The Cartoon network established the expectation that there are many media outlets aimed exclusively at their interests. Used to be that a teen's first introduction to media made just for them was the local top 40 station. Now they have electronic media made for them from birth:
TV channels, video games even made-for-kids computers. Top 40 radio comes late in their life cycle.
Secondly, teens have always enjoyed multiple opportunities for community. The computer gives one on one access to the world in an interactive environment.
What it means to you:
1. Pay attention to what teens watch on TV. MTV is the number 1 teen TV channel. Do MTV hosts talk like CHR Jocks? No. CHR jocks sound like a beatnik cartoon parody--hey Daddy-o. MTV jocks just talk, just mumble, make mistakes and only get excited when absolutely necessary. CHR's need to notch it back. Just talk.
The content of jock talk should ideally inspire an eavesdropping parent to say, "that's awful, I hate this." Nothing is as appealing to a sixteen year old as a radio station hated by her parents.
The number 1 Teen TV Show? Not Road Rules. It's FRIENDS. A package of FRIENDS' merchandise would be a hotter prize than you can imagine. A trip to see a live taping of FRIENDS would be a homerun. Sabo Media's TV contacts can help you make that happen.
2. Teens call request lines to hear themselves, not to hear a song. Same reason people go on bad TV talk and game shows. They want to be on TV. This is showbusiness. Give listeners as many chances possible to be part of the show. Interactivity? Top-40 radio invented it. Use it.
Put teens on the air so they can hear other teens, feel a part of a community, make them heroes in high school.
Every time a listener goes on the air, it's a life event. They will never, ever, ever forget it. Ever. That's true power. Entering their name on the internet, so what? Entering their name, voice and musical preference on your radio station---a life event.
The more listeners you put on the air, the more fans you will have. Each caller will brag about being on the air and tell their friends.
Use the website constantly for games, contests, chat rooms, and emails. The more chances they have to be on your stage, the less likely they are to leave the auditorium.
3. SPY PHONE. Set up a free telephone chat line. Encourage listeners to call in, talk to other teens in town and feel a part of a community. THEN, at random times put the chat line on the air. Spy on the chatline, on the air. (Use the delay, disclaimers and all that legal stuff.) The callers never know when they will go on. Listens can anticipate hearing secret conversations.
4. Shorten the playlist. The more places a person can hear their favorite song, the less patience they have waiting to hear it.
5. 9/11 Everything changed. That date is their Kennedy Assasination. It's their Challenger explosion. It defines their generation and their world view.
Arbitron's powerful study on audience reaction to 9/11 radio coverage reveals one stunning stat: Teens want more news and information from their favorite music station. A lot more. (See the study at http://www.arbitron.com/national_radio/home.htm) That storage room down the hall...it used to be a news room.
Contact Sabo Media trend analysis at 212 681 8181
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