(By Charlie Sislen) After a fast shutdown, the U.S. economy, and hopefully your market, is slowly opening back up. This means that a portion of the population will be opening up their wallets and relieving their pent-up desire to buy products and services. How and where advertisers spend their precious dollars is important to their success.
However, not all segments of the population will act the same way. One portion will quickly return to stores, restaurants, and other places of business. Others will be more cautious and, even though most establishments have opened, they will continue to stay at home.
From April 30 to May 2, Nielsen conducted a survey and then segmented the population into three groups:
⦁ Ready to go
⦁ Proceed with caution
⦁ Wait and see
Nielsen recently repeated this study and a significant shift can be seen. A month ago, about one-third (34%) of the sample was classified as ready to go. Less than one month later, over half (54%) fall into that group.
Source: Custom Nielsen study conducted 4/30-5/2 and 5/27-5/29, via an online survey, based on a weighted sample of 1000, P18+
While a majority of the population is ready to go, 46% of the sample are still playing it safer. Therefore, advertisers who want to get their message out to the more promising ready to go group need to make sure they are targeting them effectively.
Comparing the total sample to the ready to goes highlights the reason that advertisers need to focus on this segment. When asked what they plan to spend money on within a month following easing of COVID-19 restrictions, compared to the total population, the ready to go segment indexed:
⦁ 117 for shopping
⦁ 117 for professional services
⦁ 126 for food and dining
⦁ 134 for home improvements
What makes this study so valuable is that it also found that this ready to go portion of the population are heavy radio listeners. Compared to the total population, these groups index as follows:
⦁ Wait and see – 18% less likely to be heavy radio listeners
⦁ Proceed with caution – 9% less likely to be heavy radio listeners
⦁ Ready to go – 9% more likely to be heavy radio listeners
Considering that over half of the sample is ready to go, an index of 109 for heavy radio listening is tremendous. When asked what activities they intend to do within a month after COVID-19 eases in their area, heavy radio listeners indexed:
⦁ 153 go to bars
⦁ 144 plan/book a vacation
⦁ 143 shop for major purchase, such as an appliance or electronics
⦁ 138 go to a car/truck dealership
⦁ 118 dine out quick-serve/sit-down restaurants
Advertisers need to understand this study and how using radio can jump start their business. Simply put, radio reaches the consumers that advertisers need to reach.
Charlie Sislen is a partner at Research Director, Inc. He can be reached at 410-956-0363 or by e-mail at [email protected]. This essay is part of a series titled “Growing the Radio Pie.” To view past articles, visit The Ratings Experts at Research Director, Inc. online here.
