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New Study: radio ROI 49% more than TV
Radio’s ROI is 49% better than television. That’s the conclusion of the third major study from the New York-based Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (RAEL) called Radio’s ROI Advantage.
RAEL also felt the findings demonstrated radio’s effectiveness as a primary medium, with slightly more impact when radio was used in conjunction with TV.
With ROI being the main concern of advertisers today, the industry group set out to study the effect of radio advertising on product sales and to examine that against comparable TV advertising. The complex six-month ‘real world’ test was conducted by Millward Brown and Information Resources Inc. (IRI) using four pairs of actual radio and television campaigns for four brands – one grocery food, one grocery non-food, and two OTC drug products.
There were also four test markets: one where there was TV or incremental radio while the other three were scheduled with incremental radio only, national TV only, and both national TV and incremental radio.
According to the IRI data, the incremental radio campaigns were associated with sales lifts of 3.6% where there was radio alone and 4.6% when combined with TV.
Although higher, the national TV campaigns showed no significant difference in sales lift with or without radio, resulting in increases ranging from 7.3% to 7.7%.
Radio Marketing Bureau (rmb.ca) is the main Canadian partner of RAEL and RMB president John Harding is on its board of directors.
The full study can be found at radioadlab.org.
ComBase Market Focus: Reaching Boomers in Victoria CMA
Having attracted a wave of families with children over the past few years, Victoria has cast off its image as a market that consists of the newly wed and nearly dead. In Victoria, community newspapers are the best way to reach one of the market’s key target groups – boomer men and women – during the week.
Women 35 to 54
These female targets are becoming increasingly difficult to reach with broadcast media. More than half of women in Victoria aged 35 to 54 (51%) watch less than 9.5 hours of TV weekly and 43% of them listen to less than 3.5 hours of radio weekly.
Reaching women aged 25 to 54 who are typically the prime shoppers for their households:
* Only 58% of these women report reading their weekday daily newspaper.
* Almost three-quarters of female Boomers (74%) are reading weekday editions of their community newspaper and 17% say that they only read their community paper and not the daily newspaper.
Men 35 to 54
Boomer men in Victoria also have challenging media habits. Four out of ten men aged 35 to 54 (41%) watch less than 9.5 hours of TV weekly and a quarter of them (25%) listen to less than 3.5 hours of radio weekly.
Reaching male Boomers in Victoria with advertising:
* Only 52% of these men read their weekday daily newspaper.
* 72% report reading their weekday community newspaper and 23% of them read only their community paper and not their daily paper.
Source: ComBase 2003-2004 Study
ComBase, the Community Newspaper Database, is a syndicated consumer-media survey of more than 400 Canadian markets that provides market-by-market information. It is an initiative of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and its nearly 700 members across the country. For more information, contact Kelly Levson, senior project manager, kellylevson@combase.ca.
Nielsen media research spend trend: Father’s Day
TV touts Dad’s favourite things
Most advertising highlighting toys for big boys makes it way to TV in the run up to Fathers’ Day each year. Dailies come in a distant second, ranging from 28.5% in 2001 to 19.9% in 2004. Not surprisingly the biggest spenders are in the hardware/building stores and electronic stores categories with sports equipment, hardware/tools, and audio/visual equipment being the main gift suggestions.
CFL kicks off brand new season
The Canadian Football League’s (CFL) kicking off a 54-game broadcast campaign this season, with 21 of those games in High Definition. Popular fast-food giant Wendy’s is title sponsor this year. Wendy’s Friday Night football airs every Friday night during the regular season while Wendy’s CFL Live games will run through the week. The burger chain is also dropping dollars on Wendy’s Kick for a Million, where a fan can kick a field goal for a chance to win $1 million. A 20-yard field goal wins $1,000 while a 50-yard field goal nets a cool million dollar prize. Sony digital imaging and home theatre packages are also available to be won. The CFL’s regular season begins on June 22.
Corus beefs up interactive arm
Two new roles have been created within Toronto-based Corus Entertainment’s Radio Interactive group. Deborah Beatty, VP, interactive steps in to the role of GM, Corus Radio Interactive, effective this September. Beatty will handle overall operations and strategy of interactive programming as well as operations for all Corus radio stations. She will report to John Hayes, president.
Jeff Woods, director FM programming, Corus Radio Vancouver and on-air host is appointed programming and content director for Corus’ interactive arm. Woods will work with GMs and program directors developing content nationally. He will begin his new role on July 4 and will report to Beatty.
CTV lines up slam dunk roster for fall
CTV went to market and picked up five key items for fall. The schedule includes Close to Home, a legal drama from Jerry Bruckheimer starring Canadian Jennifer Finnigan; Invasion, an eerie drama starring Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch); Ghost Whisperer with Party of Five-alum Jennifer Love Hewitt; Inconceivable with Ming Na (formerly of ER); and the half-hour sitcom Twins from the Emmy-winning team (David Kohan and Max Mutchnick) that brought us Will & Grace.
Midseason pickups include a mixed bag of five American and three Canadian titles. Titles from the U.S. are Crumbs with former Wonder Years wonder boy, Fred Savage; In Justice with Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Sex & the City), a reality series called The Miracle Workers; the Evidence, a character-based drama from John Wells of West Wing and ER fame and What About Brian from the executive producer of Lost and Alias, JJ Abrams. Local purchases are Whistler an hour-long drama set in – you guessed it – Whistler, B.C.; Alice I Think, a teen series based on Susan Juby’s books and Jeff Ltd. starring Gemini winner Jeff Seymour as a megalomaniacal marketer.
Radio-Canada outwits zappers
When is a commercial break not really a break? When it’s a creative break. Creative breaks are a new integration technique being used by Radio-Canada to bring advertising into programs without the usual product placement approaches.
The French-language broadcaster plans to build on this concept and develop new going into this fall. One of its new tactics is long-form advertising, something it has just begun with a few clients who want to own the full two minutes of a commercial break. As a result, two-minute features are being created to run exclusively on R-C stations.
Additionally, the Radio-Canada Web site – once an ad-free zone – is going commercial this fall, offering standalone and integrated advertising that carries over from TV to the online platform.
New mobisodes seek brand partnerships
Two new episodic cell phone series are slated to launch in September. Soon
out of the gate will be Who Kidnapped Rachel B , billed an ‘interactive cellular thriller’ and winner of the best interactive mobile program award at MIPTV; and a ‘cellenovella’ entitled Girlz. Both are from Chooz Active Content, an Israel-based producer repped here by Toronto’s Big Bang Pictures, a subsidiary of The Nightingale Company. Big Bang has signed one Canadian mobile carrier and is currently negotiating two more.
‘Rachel B is going to run over six weeks and subscribers will get clues,video clips or animation on their cell phone,’ explains Debbie Nightingale,president of the The Nightingale Company. ‘Viewers use their phone to go to websites about possible suspects in the kidnapping and they accumulate points by guessing the name of the kidnapper. The whole time, of course,they¹re racking up minutes with their carrier.’
The company is still working out the fine details of their promotion strategy and revenue model. ‘We’re working on securing media sponsors right now,’ says Nightingale. ‘Specifically one that targets 15 to 29-year olds.’ She goes on to add that Big Bang is shopping for promo and carrier sponsorships. Who Kidnapped Rachel B is aimed at 15- to 39-year-olds with an even male/female split.
Girlz, a cellenovella with 180 one-minute chapters delivered daily to subscribers, targets 14 to 18-year-old girls. With Girlz, users can download ring tones and answer quizzes. The program also has a weekly comic strip running in print in Israel. Big Bang aims to do the same here. Both programs promise to be available across all cellular platforms.
New Avenue Media rolls out rolling ads
Vancouver-based New Avenue Media has launched a new program called Billboards without Boundaries, slapping ads on the sides of delivery trucks and cube vans all around mainland Vancouver. ‘We’re targeting mainly local businesses – from restaurants to automotive companies to tourist attractions,’ says Stephen Wilson, president. ‘And because most trucks are independently operated, we’re helping out the little guy by offering up a cut of the ad revenue to drivers.’ New Avenue Media has 30 trucks in its fleet now and with the upcoming Olympics descending upon Vancouver, the company is feeling positive about their mobile ads. Rates range from $650 to $2050. Installation and production costs are extra.
www.newavenue.ca
YTV takes Weird on the road
New partner Pringles joined Weird on Wheels (WOW), YTV’s long-running traveling road show this year. The potato chip giant is using the road show to intro its Irresistible Taste Tour, complete with Pringles crew and branded party lounge. Toronto’s the Media Company played matchmaker. WOW, now in its seventh year, is touring community events across the country until Labour Day. Games, prizes and activities abound with Hasbro kicking in two new interactive games, Lazer Tag and B-Daman Battle Zone. The long-standing Hasbro deal was brokered by Toronto-based agency Zenith Optimedia. ‘The big aim here is to get kids to play in the tournament while at the same time providing opportunities for sampling,’ says Sinatra Nathaniel, event manager for YTV. The road show is aimed at kids 6-12 with a male skew.
BBM Media Snapshot: Canadians who attend jazz festivals and concerts
* 7 million Canadians (6%) attended jazz festivals/concerts one or more times during the last year.
* Females (55%) are more likely than males (45%) to attend jazz festivals/concerts.
* 56% of jazz festival/concert attendees are between 25 and 54 years old. 20% are over 60 years old.
* 16% of jazz festival/concert attendees live alone (1.7 times national average); 10% (1.8 times the national average) are divorced.
* Quebec is the region with highest incidence of attendance, having 1.6 times more attendees than the national average. It is follow by B.C. with an incidence of 1.3 times the national average.
* The average personal yearly income of Canadians who attended jazz concerts/festivals is $36,500. ($30,000 is the national average).
* Jazz festival/concert attendees have an active entertaining life:
* 63% of attendees (2.9 times the national average) attended live theatre, 51% attended popular music concerts (2.6 times national average), 44% went to dancing clubs (2.2 times the national average), 38% went to rock concerts (2.7 times the national average), and 31% went to the symphony (4 times the national average).
* They also take in a lot of movies: 61% went to movie theatres (1.4 times the national average) and 31% attended film festivals (7 times the national average).
* Jazz festival/concert attendees’ top four media for yesterday exposure are: radio (89%), TV (83%), Internet (63%), and newspaper (61%).
* Their favourite radio formats (weekly reach) are: news/talk (28%), adult contemporary (17%) and classic/mainstream rock (10%).
Source: BBM RTS Canada Fall ’03 / Spring ’04
The preceding information is from BBM RTS, a syndicated consumer-media survey of over 55,000 Canadians, conducted twice a year by BBM Canada. For more information contact Craig Dorning of BBM Canada: cdorning@bbm.ca.
HGTV dresses up its roster with new game show
Alliance Atlantis’ HGTV is prepping its first-ever design game show, slated to air in the fall. The Design Game mixes trivia with design, with contestants vying for the opportunity to win household items. Producers of the show secure products such as indoor/outdoor furniture, BBQs, appliances and home electronics for prizing. Donor brands receive a verbal mention and a visual of their product on-air as well as a ‘thank you’ during the show’s end credits. Integrated ad opps are available via Synergy, the Integrated Ideas Group at Alliance Atlantis Communications. The Design Game is searching for contestants through the summer. Primary target demo is women 25 to 55.
BBC intros kids summer series
BBC Kids adds live-action series My Dad’s the Prime Minister to its weekend line-up, beginning July 9. The half-hour sitcom, a hit in 2003 on the UK’s BBC1, airs Saturdays and Sundays at 5:30 p.m. Aimed at girls ages 6 to 11, it promises to show politics through kids’ eyes.
CanWest steals SVP from Alliance Atlantis
CanWest MediaWorks announced yesterday the appointment of Walter Levitt as SVP, marketing. In this newly created post, Levitt will helm all marketing functions for CanWest’s broadcast properties, including brand strategy, PR, on-air promos and advertising. Levitt joins CanWest from Alliance Atlantis Communications, where he was SVP, marketing and creative services. There, Levitt was responsible for all consumer, affiliate and trade marketing, building TV brands such as Showcase, HGTV and History Television. He will report to Kathleen Dore, president, TV and radio.
