Why It Matters: Netflix has helped define audience and revenue growth in the 21st century, yet its CEO just said, “we’re not growing as fast as I want us to.” What might he say about radio?
Here’s a return-to-growth framework for ratings and revenue with lessons from McDonald’s, auto insurance and Subway. It’s grounded in reality, exactly as you’d expect from the End Result.
Let’s start with McDonald’s. CEO Chris Kempczinski recently made a point that should sound familiar. “We need to stop talking about it being a difficult environment, and just say that is the environment,” he told CNBC. “Because I think, as we look out forward, we’re not expecting things to change.” That clarity changes the growth equation. “The biggest thing that you need to do in an environment like this is you have to be able to earn share,” Kempczinski said. “You have to be able to actually grab growth from your competitors.”
Auto insurance shows why staying top of mind matters
Consumer Reports recently ranked 36 auto insurers on customer satisfaction. State Farm finished 19th. Geico was 29th and Progressive was 30th. Yet their market shares tell a different story: State Farm holds 18.6%, Progressive 18%, and Geico 11.56%. Together, they account for more than 48% of the market. Their satisfaction scores suggest room to improve the customer experience yet they continue to invest heavily in marketing.
Advertising works.
Flo works. The Gecko works. Jake from State Farm works. Most importantly, the real value comes from keeping customers and growing the relationship as their needs evolve, not constantly replacing them with someone new. Radio stations face the same challenge. Your biggest fans spend most of their lives away from your station.
Consistent marketing keeps your brand top of mind and keeps them coming back for more.
Then there’s Subway, which offers another important lesson: build from the inside out.Subway’s new CMO, Jeff Klein, says the company needs to refocus on core guests. He cautioned against becoming distracted by shiny objects and constantly chasing new audiences. His point was simple: your most valuable customers need to be the center of gravity. “The math isn’t mathing if you’re losing core guests and gaining new ones at the same time,” Klein told Marketing Dive.
That idea applies directly to radio.
For years, radio marketing conversations have often started with one question: How do we add more cume? New listeners matter, but cume alone doesn’t tell you how much someone listens.
Cume counts everyone who listens, whether it’s five minutes per week or two hours every day. They are both in the audience, but they aren’t equal.
A return to growth starts from the inside out.
Keep your best listeners engaged. Create more occasions with them. Recruit heavy listeners from your competitors and find new listeners by targeting people who behave like your best listeners. Every day, heavy radio listeners have multiple opportunities to choose a station. Your opportunity is to win more of those occasions. The world’s biggest marketers aren’t waiting for the environment to get easier. They’re staying top of mind, focusing on their best customers and fighting for a bigger piece of the business. Together, let’s do the same. Go Deeper: Special thanks to Barrett Media for
On behalf of Catherine Jung, Tony Bannon, Jen Clayborn, Mike Landis, and everyone at DMR/Interactive, thank you for driving radio forward.
Onward, Andrew Curran | President and CEO, DMR/Interactive
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