As radio quality improves, the battle for drivers' hearts and minds intensifies, says Emmet Oliver, with this 'captive' audience being increasingly targeted
The battle for supremacy in the radio business is increasingly being fought out within the cramped confines of your car. Advertisers and radio stations are desperate for you, the car owner, to tune their way.
The increase in car ownership in the last five years has made this battle intense. For many advertisers there are now two key groups to reach via radio: those who work in the home during the day, and drivers making their way to and from work in the gridlock.
The fight for the loyalty of the second group is not going to level off any time soon, says Paul Moran of Mediaworks, the Dublin-based advertising agency. "Due to the ongoing developments of our infrastructure and also the increases in the number of people commuting into cities from surrounding satellite towns, it's very easy to witness the significant increases in the amount of time people spend commuting in their cars," he says.
"So, from an advertising agency perspective, we are very conscious of how this reflects positively on the ability of certain media to reach an audience, particularly radio and outdoor," he adds. Outdoor mainly refers to billboards, posters and bus shelter adverts. "If we isolate the evening drive time segment from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in 1998, 19 per cent of all radio listenership at this time was in the car. By 2003, the figure had increased to 24 per cent," he explains. Based on statistics like that, advertisers and radio stations are very keen on chasing the motoring euro. Not surprisingly, the high spending advertisers are often service stations and car manufacturers. The motor trade spent about €45 million on advertising in 2002 for example,while figures show that the AA was RTÉ Radio's 14th largest advertiser in 2002.
The captive nature of radio listeners is particularly acute in Ireland. "It is not unusual for people to spend up to three hours daily in their cars travelling to and from work. Traditionally, 7 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. was considered 'drive-time', but with people starting work earlier and finishing later this time-band has moved somewhat," says Martina Stenson, managing director of Universal McCann, the media buying/planning agency.
"Radio listenership in this marketplace is amongst the highest in Europe, with some cohorts listening to the radio for over four hours daily, and peaks in listenership are evident during this key four hour period," she claims.
One man who knows about reaching drivers is Dan Healy, former managing director of 98 FM and now the boss at Newstalk 106. A keen driver himself, he says car listening is absolutely critical to radio stations, particularly in the morning.
He says drivers want to be included in radio schedules as a distinct group. Responding to this, Newstalk broadcasts a happiness index each week where listeners phone in with their gripes about driving and gridlock.
Sean Ashmore, managing director of Dublin's Country station, said if you want to reach drivers you have to tweak your programming to suit them. However, some statistics are beginning to show that motorists are more radio-focused in the mornings than in afternoon or evening. Research shows that the audience listening on the way home from work is a third less than the morning drive-time audience. Some suggest that motorists turn to CDs in the afternoon and evening, after a hard day's work.
The morning peaks are also getting earlier. Research presented by Emap, the British radio and publishing group, recently showed that morning drive-time is now ending at 8 a.m. So any station looking for that driver audience in future will have to set the alarm clock even earlier.