Dr Janey Gordon

Radio LaB 97.1fm

University of Bedfordshire

Generating Income-

Measuring Audiences

Measuring Audiences

Who has done some kind of

audience research?

Why Measure Audiences?Who pays for community radio? Is their

money well spent?

• The Community (donations; in kind;

membership; subscription; fund raising

events)

• A patron (arts centre, university)

• Commercial advertising /sponsorship

• Competitive funding (grants)

• Contracts for audio skills and services

• NGOs, charities, trusts

• Government agencies

What are you measuring?

• Who is listening to your

community radio station?

(How many?)

• When?

• How (the technology used)?

• Why do they listen?

• What else might they enjoy?

Measuring Audiences

“Is anybody out there? Audience

research for community stations.”

Airflash, CMA, Summer 2006

Janey Gordon

The Community Radio Toolkit

- ‘Prove it’

“[Q]uantitative research

…isn’t just about proving

audience figures, it’s

about proving what you

say you do.”

Eleanor Shember-Critchley

http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/f

eature/

Measuring Audiences - basics

Use at least 100 respondents,

who are not known to you. (300-

500 ideal; 1000 max)

The selection of respondents

should be appropriate to your

station

Approach in an ethical and

courteous manner

Measuring Audiences - basics

Q1 “What radio stations

broadcast in this area?”

Q2 “What radio stations do you

listen to?”(prompt) “Have you

heard of CMA fm?”

Q3 “Do you listen to CMA fm?”

Qualitative questions

Demographic questions

Measuring Audiences - basics

Keep questions simple and to the

point

Avoid asking for opinions unless

you really mean to (use a focus

group)

Keep the questions to one side of

A4 if possible (Who is going to

conduct this survey?)

Measuring Audiences - examples

(national Au) Organised by CBAA and

CBonline, funded by CBF and

conducted by McNair Ingenuity

Survey:

http://cbaa.org.au/Info_For_Stations/

2014-National-Listener-Survey

Census

http://cbonline.org.au/what-we-

do/facts-and-figures/community-

broadcasting-station-census/

Measuring Audiences-

examples (local)

Ward, E, Buckham, T, & Hallett, L

(2012) ‘Practical Community

Radio Audience Measurement’, in

Gordon, J (Ed). Community

Radio in the Twenty First

Century. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Measuring Audiences-

examples (local)

Future Radio, Norwich 2013

A1: 24% of 417 respondents

had heard of Future Radio

unprompted

A2: 54% of 417 respondents

had heard of Future Radio

following a prompt

Measuring Audiences-

examples (local)

Future Radio, Norwich 2013

A3: 22% of 417 respondents

had listened to Future Radio

within the last month and a

further 13% within the last

week, 35% in all.

Measuring Audiences-

examples (local)

Future Radio, Norwich 2013

417 ÷ 100 × 35 =

145 respondents had

listened to Future Radio

(ie more than the 100

necessary for a sample, so

other data concerning

listening habits is valid.)

United States

“If you want money, you have to ask

for it.”…..

“Most people have no idea how much it

costs to run a nonprofit [community radio

station], or how nonprofits get money. If

you don’t ask them, they will simply

assume you are getting the money

somewhere [else].”

Measuring Audiences

Anyone who gives you

money will want to know

what it is being used for

Any community station can

run valid small scale

audience research!

Dr Janey Gordon

Radio LaB 97.1fm

University of Bedfordshire

Generating Income -

Measuring Audiences