Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary

Transcription

1 Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Executive Summary April 2016 Report Dr Emma Ward Research carried out on behalf of: Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 1 of 6

2 Executive summary Aims This report presents findings from two surveys: the Radio LaB Public Survey 2015 and the Radio LaB Online Student Survey 2015, conducted in October and November The main aim of the surveys was to provide data that could be used to estimate Radio LaB listener figures. The surveys also intended to investigate whether the core target audience of young people was likely to access the station and how listenership compared to other stations broadcasting to Luton. Methodology The public (street) survey and student (online) survey surveys asked very similar questions to allow for comparison and joint analysis. Respondents were asked about their awareness and listenership of radio stations broadcasting to Luton without mention of Radio LaB in the question phrasing to avoid biasing the response. Extrapolated listener figures were based on the proportion of people who had listened in the last week at time of survey. Other information about participant characteristics was gathered in order to investigate the profile of Radio LaB listeners. Radio LaB aims to reach a core audience of young people in line with their key objectives therefore we were particularly interested in respondents aged years. For the public survey, 232 people were surveyed, of which 150 (65%) were of the Target Coverage Group (TCG); that is they lived within Ofcom reach area defined as postcodes LU1-6 and were aged between years. For the student survey, there were 400 usable responses giving a response rate of 2.5% of all students. There were 292 usable responses of students within the station s target age range of giving a response rate of 2.3% (from a total population of 12,574 students aged 18-29). The public survey sample had a slight overrepresentation, and the student survey sample had a significant underrepresentation, of respondents from ethnic minority groups. Radio station awareness and listenership A very diverse range of radio stations were mentioned by both the public and student samples. Unprompted station awareness appeared to be dominated by BBC national stations and Heart with around half of both the public and Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 2 of 6

3 student samples being aware of at least one of these stations. Almost a third of members of the public from the TCA had mentioned, unprompted, that they had heard of Radio LaB, and over a quarter of students aged had mentioned, unprompted, that they had heard of Radio LaB. The only other local station which had comparable awareness (and listenership) was Diverse FM in the public survey only. Radio LaB was the fourth most listened to station by people responding to the public survey, and third most listened station by students responding to the student sample. Of TCA respondents in the public survey, over a quarter had listened to Radio LaB at some point, 21% had listened in the last month and 11% had listened within the last week at the time of the survey. Of respondents to the student survey identified as aged 18-29, a quarter had listened to Radio LaB at some point, 18% had listened in the last month and 14% had listened within the last week at the time of the survey. Estimated listener figures It is important to note that the estimated listener figures discussed are not an estimation of total listenership. Due to limitations with sampling, the listener figures presented in this report relate only to the specified core audiences of year old UOB students and young people living in the reach area. Therefore it is likely that the actual number of total listeners is greater than figures presented here. A basic extrapolation was applied to the public survey data using census data which estimated that 5,829 people aged living in the reach area had listened to Radio LaB in the last week, and estimated that the station has reached approximately 12,574 at some point. We can be 95% certain that between 3.3% and 19.3% of people aged living in postcodes LU1- LU6 had listened to Radio LaB in the last week; equating to an estimated weekly listenership of between 1,702 and 9,956 of young people aged Unfortunately the public survey sample is very small in relation to the wider population meaning that there is this wide margin of error. A basic extrapolation was applied to the student survey using University of Bedfordshire official student data which estimated that 1,723 students aged had listened to Radio LaB in the last week. We can be 95% certain that between 8% and 19.4% of students identified as aged had listened to Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 3 of 6

4 Radio LaB in the last week; equating to an estimated weekly listenership of between 1,006 and 2,439 of students aged The low response rate of the student survey means that the margin of error is wide and we can t be more accurate with our estimation. If respondents did not mention Radio LaB when asked what stations broadcast to Luton, the survey asked them directly if they had heard of and listened to Radio LaB. When prompted, an additional an additional 4.8% of people aged living in postcodes LU1- LU6, and an additional 3.1% of students aged 18-29, said they had listened to Radio LaB in the last week. Using our basic method, this would increase potential listenership in these samples to 8,305 and 2,330 respectively. However, because of the biased nature of the questioning, these figures should be interpreted with caution and only used as an indication of potential listener numbers. Profile of Radio LaB listeners The pubic and student data was combined to investigate characteristics of Radio LaB listeners. This showed that the station is reaching its specified core audience of students and young people; people who had listened within the last week were around twice as likely to be students and twice as likely to be aged than people who had not listened in the last week. Being an undergraduate or postgraduate was not associated with regular listenership; both groups were as likely to listen. Student listeners within the last week were: 4 times more likely to attend Luton campus, 4 times more likely to study in the Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies, and Sciences, and over four and a half times more likely to be White and male than other groups. This later trend was found even when other factors were taken into account. Interestingly, an association between ethnicity and non- students who had listened in the last week was not found. Overall over 40% of all people who had listened, had listened on weekday evenings (44.1%, 82) and weekday afternoons (41.4%, 77), with just under a third having listened on weekday mid- mornings (30.1%, 56), around a fifth on Saturdays (21.5%, 40) and Gold breakfast (20.4%, 38), and a sixth on Sundays (17.7%, 33). Listeners within the last week had tuned in more often in the evenings, and to a greater variety of shows, than respondents who had not listened recently. Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 4 of 6

5 Two thirds of all respondents listened to radio generally on AM or FM signal (66.3%, 415); almost half listened online (45%, 282); 17% on DAB radio (16.5%, 104); and 8% (50) had listened to podcasts. When looking at Radio LaB s regular listeners only, trends were the same apart from increased online listening (65%). Healthy online listener figures reported for the survey period support also indicate that Radio LaB listeners enjoy accessing the station online. Student comments about the station were generally positive and focussed on the range of music, the content of programming, and presenters. There were some mixed comments about the signal and a couple of comments about technical difficulties listeners had experienced. The take home message from the comments was that students really valued the student led ethos of the station. Conclusion The findings suggest that Radio LaB is a competitor in Luton s local radio station market, despite its community radio status. Although there are some limitations with representativeness of the samples, the findings give a good indication that Radio LaB is reaching thousands of Luton public and students each week. Unfortunately (due to resource constraints) the survey is unable to give one complete listener figure including people out of the age range and FM signal reach area. Therefore it is likely the complete listener figure is higher than the estimates reported here. There is evidence that the station is predominately appealing to its core audience of students and young people and is therefore meeting this key objective, but it is encouraging that the survey shows people outside the age range are also tuning in. Recommendations for further work include conducting a larger public survey giving scope to manage representation issues, and a qualitative exploration of how Radio LaB could increase its appeal to a more diverse range of students. There were several recommendations for the station: continued partnership working with the Student Union and University, increasing campus access to the station, exploring new ways to publicise the station, ensuring smooth running of website and broadcast technology, quality assurance procedures for volunteers, and maintaining and promoting the student led ethos of the station. Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 5 of 6

6 For more information about this report, or to request to see the full report, please Radio LaB 97.1 Estimated Listenership Exec Summary Page 6 of 6