By NuVoodoo From AllAccess

By Carolyn Gilbert & Leigh Jacobs

e

NuVoodoo’s 17th Ratings Prospects Study is our first snapshot of likely panelists and diarykeepers in 2021! We completed interviews with close to 3,500 14 to 54 year-olds in these initial days of January – including the subsets most likely to participate in the radio ratings. We’re planning our first 2021 webinar for next month: How to Get Your Ratings From Here to Vaccinated. We’ll work to cover the things you need to know to put your station on top of the Nielsen ratings. Work-from home and workplace listening trends Podcasts, smart speakers & streaming National and local contests Marketing messages that drive tune-in or boost TSL Social and digital channels that move the needle Advertising channels that maximize reach (while not killing the budget) Sweeping changes in Americans’ daily lives have led to seismic shifts in media consumption. As always, we’ll highlight the difference between those who’d say “yes” to Nielsen and those who would never participate in the radio ratings, as well as the behavior and opinions of heavy listeners. We know PD’s and talent need to be thinking about drawing and maintaining audiences in 2021. These days, having your music dialed in perfectly is only table stakes to stay in the game. To build ratings you need to increase the emotional appeal of your station to draw people in and keep them coming back. You need to be focused on developing entertaining, non-duplicable content.

As a broadcast journalism major at Penn State University, Carolyn Gilbert served as WQWK’s first female jock before moving on to Cincinnati and WWEZ, WEBN, an audio production company… and two little kids sent to hone her management skills. Her research career started when she launched Critical Mass Media in the 80’s, which she grew from 3 employees to over 700, serving every major broadcasting group. Eventually, Critical Mass became an “in house” provider of services for the 1200 Clear Channel radio stations, and Carolyn served as President. Following a stint as EVP/Research and Inside Sales for Tribune, Carolyn teamed with friends (and best in class) Mike O’Connor, Leigh Jacobs and Marc Chase to form NuVoodoo in 2010, providing innovative products that work within 2012 budgets and deliver results. “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” has become a forbidden sentence.

Leigh fell in love with radio in 8th grade, got deeply involved in his high school’s 10-watt FM station a year later and never recovered. After 20 years in the business, including 16 years as a program director, he joined Critical Mass Media as a perceptual analyst in 1999. Across nearly a decade at Critical Mass, Leigh designed and analyzed hundreds of studies for stations in all formats.He teamed with partners Carolyn Gilbert and Mike O’Connor to form NuVoodoo in 2010. He continues to look for better questions and better ways to ask them – to give radio stations and owners better insights into listeners. Reach him with your questions at [email protected].