Repeat or Not Repeat Content
By Mike Donovan and Randy Lane
Repeating or repurposing personality show content is a subject of debate among talent, programmers, and consultants. Replaying fun, funny, emotional, and innovative priceless moments in other hours and dayparts is a growth opportunity.
There’s a misconception among some talent and programmers about the importance of P1 listeners to a show. While P1 listeners are highly important, over-focusing on P1 listeners can cause a decline in ratings over time.
In the mid-90s at Star 98.7 Los Angeles, we helped popularize the emerging Modern AC format. In the late 90s, programmers narrowed the focus to primarily P1s. The format started declining and shortly after 2000 became extinct.
For personality shows hesitant to replay highlight content, the assumption isyour P1 listeners will see it as a negative and some shows do get complaints. A few complaints are nothing to be concerned about. Massive complaints are another story.
If you look at individual quarter hours in morning drive or any daypart, the P1 percentage in the target demos is about 55-60%. A high P1 percentage for brands is 70%.
Although P1s can contribute 75-80% of total listening, not all P1s are listening at the same time. Like cume listeners, they are in and out of your show from start to finish. Consequently, even for mega-successful shows, 30-40% of every quarter hour is comprised of P2 and P3 listeners.
P1 listeners drop out, age out, move, etc. For any show to grow they must convert P2 and P3 listeners to P1s. The chances are great cume listeners will be hearing a replay for the first time.
No worries if your biggest fans hear content a second time. How many times have you re-watched some of the funniest shows from repeats of Modern Family or Seinfeld?
There will always be a small number of listeners who will be vocal and complain about content and song repetition. It’s most likely those same listeners are still tuning into your show because they truly enjoy the experience.
Some major top-rated shows rarely replay content on their radio shows, yet their highlight content is posted online and on their podcast. That’s a good thing, however, many podcast listeners don’t listen to it within 24 hours, which means no credit in Nielsen.
When not to recycle content. Lesser disciplined shows use replays as an excuse to not come up with as much compelling new content. It’s important to only repeat A-grade content. Replaying the hits increases ratings and brand loyalty.
The key is to work with your Program Director to break down the ratings data hour by hour to understand where and how to best repeat content. By replaying A-level content in other hours and dayparts, your show is building a reputation for high-quality entertainment value.
