This year’s survey shows increased awareness and interest in HD radio. The trouble is that a majority of respondents 14-24 years old simply don’t know of any radio stations broadcasting in HD, so why buy one?
Awareness of HD increased from 37% to 47% over the last year. However, among those aware of HD radio, only 43% knew of a station that broadcast over HD.
HD radio proponents can take heart that interest in HD radio among those aware of it soared from 37% in 2007 to 69% in 2008.
Youth Radio slide 48
Price remains a barrier among those aware of HD: You’ve got them if you sell the HD radio for $40, but a majority still won’t buy one for $200. It’s noteworthy that those who said they’d buy an HD radio for $200 increased to 34% from 22% last year.
Youth Radio slide 49
Can radio put compelling programming on HD and let people know it’s out there hoping that people will actually plop down the money for an HD radio? New radio distribution methods via the internet may very well leave HD radio in its wake. There’s also the small matter of radically adjusting radio stations’ business models if HD were to effectively compete for radio time spent listening. Are you ready for 2 to 3 times the number of radio stations in your market?
Detailed results of the complete Second Annual Youth Radio and New Media Study on our website www.paragonmediastrategies.com
Oops – Ramsey is wrong again.
Paragon is not, nor has it ever been, “backed by the PR muscle of the Radio Heard Here folks.” Paragon has never had as much as even a conversation with iBiquity, so the notion that we are on their payroll is fiction.
As this study has received more press, Ramsey has deemed it necessary to fire a second salvo. As for the contention that Arbitron is showing something different:
Arbitron hasn’t released PUR figures since the Spring 2007 ratings: It’s waiting until late 2008 when it can integrate PPM results. Nonetheless, the relentless decline in Teen PUR radio ratings halted in Fall 2006, with Boys 12-17 PUR being flat. 18-24 ratings for both Men and Women since Fall 2006 (includes Winter 2007 and Spring 2007) are within the margin of error and seemed steady in 2007: only time will tell if the slow but steady PUR erosion in that age group will continue empirically.
Surveys sometimes are a precursor to ratings results.
“Radio in Danger with the Young? Nahhhh.”
“Back in October there was this study released from Paragon Research: The firm, Paragon Media Strategies, reports that 14- to 24-year-olds mostly say their radio listening has increased over the last year or two, while they said the opposite last year. Paragon recruited the respondents and conducted the study online. This, of course, is at odds with what Arbitron’s showing. Then again, Arbitron is only a vast and representative national system of diaries and meters recording the actual behavior of tens of thousands of respondents on a daily basis. How can it possibly compare to a tiny, annual online opinion study which happens to be backed by the PR muscle of the Radio Heard Here folks?”
http://tinyurl.com/6bhwhg
Oops – Ramsey called your bluff.