As any business owner can attest, reaching target customers is crucial for an enterprise's success. However, finding the channels that will be most effective in connecting with them is just as critical. Public radio's diverse listener base is the ideal platform for many successful companies, allowing them to tap into a loyal, engaged audience with the resources to invest in sponsors' products and services.
Keep reading to learn more about who listens to public radio and how tapping into their interests can benefit your company.
Public radio reaches a diverse audience of people with significant spending power and devoted listening habits. The demographics represent various genders and orientations, races, and ethnicities. They are married, single, with children, and childless. And, just like the rest of the population, this audience has many interests that range from local, national, and global news to music, history, politics, travel, cooking, and spoken languages.
The audience is highly educated, well-traveled, and holds professional positions in upper-level management and the C-suite. They are advocates for the environment, educators, creators, business owners, and government employees. In short, the public radio audience cares about the people and the world around them.
Public radio connects with people of all ages, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z. This diverse group is tech-savvy, with more than half working in a technology-related role. These listeners keep up with the latest tech developments and research carefully before buying electronics. Most appreciate the convenience technology adds to their lives, such as smart devices and voice activation.
Public radio listeners represent the following generations:
• Gen Z - This generation was born between 1996 and 2015. Today's adults range in age from 18 to 27. This group shows the highest growth in listening to spoken word audio. They spend over half of their total daily audio time listening to spoken word audio, with 58% of that time listening to public radio.
• Millennials - Born between 1977 and 1995, these adults are now aged 25-34. Both Millennials and Gen Z show high interest in mobile listening and podcasts.
• Gen X - Adults born between 1965 and 1976 are in today's 35-54 age range. This sandwich generation has combined characteristics of both Millennials and Baby Boomers, depending upon when they were born.
• Baby Boomers - This generation was born after WWII between 1946 and 1964, making them from 59 to 77 today. While many prefer listening to public radio on terrestrial radio, they are still tech-savvy, and their listening habits include public media streaming content.
The public radio audience is educated and curious. Understanding the public radio audience allows you to reach and engage them by tapping into that curiosity and desire to learn. This audience likes supporting sponsors because they appreciate that the sponsor enables a medium they enjoy. While traditional radio ads can be intrusive, public media audiences view sponsor messages as informative. The listeners think of sponsors as benefactors, and the goodwill generated from their support translates to greater sales, as the listeners will prioritize their brand over the competition.
Public radio can connect with its audience across multiple generations. It has a unique ability to do so on a single platform. In contrast, commercial radio appeals to different age groups depending on the genre, meaning you need to choose multiple stations to reach the broad range of ages and tastes that public radio attracts. For instance, classic hits stations, also called oldies stations, attract primarily male listeners between the ages of 45 and 54, while top 40 stations attract the 18 to 34 age range. Classic rock is a favorite of primarily male baby boomers, while soft adult contemporary draws an audience of women between the ages of 35 and 54.
Growing your business more effectively means understanding your target customer and knowing how to reach them. Public radio allows you to appeal to a broad range of customers to achieve your marketing goals as your campaigns change without looking for a new station whose listener demographic appeals to that target customer.
Another valuable and intangible benefit of leveraging a public media sponsorship in your marketing strategy is the goodwill it generates. When faced with a decision between buying from a sponsor brand or a competitor, public media audiences will favor the sponsor to show appreciation for supporting their favorite station.