Happy Media: Nielsen on Audience Ain't No Gold
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July 5, 2016, Issue 506 Ain’t No Gold Folk’s Home Country Radio’s Top 100 Power Gold list gets younger each year as a growing crop of artists make their way in. There are 36 new songs this year, and 53 that didn’t appear in our 2014 Top 100. No songs come from earlier than 1997, and only three from pre-2002. In fact, 61% of the list comes from 2011 or later. As always, songs move from Recurrent to Gold categories when they are 18 months old, so by default newer titles often appear or debut high on the list. The full 100 from Mediabase 24/7 and the Country Aircheck/ Mediabase reporting panel (June 19-25) is on page 10. Here are the top 10: Darius Rucker Nice Burgh: Blue Chair/Columbia’s Kenny Chesney (c) at his 1. Darius Rucker/Wagon Wheel Pittsburgh Spread The Love Tour stop with (l-r) WOGI’s Dave An- 2. Kenny Chesney/American Kids thony, WPGB’s JD Greene, WOGI’s Jeremy “Dangerfrog” Mulder, 3. Brantley Gilbert/Bottoms Up WPGB’s Rachel Belke, Columbia’s Cliff Blake, Mulder’s wife Kelly, 4. Sam Hunt/Leave The Night On WDSY’s Mark Anderson and Wookie and wife Amy Kostek, An- 5. Blake Shelton/Honey Bee thony’s wife Kathie, WPGB’s Carson Blackley and WKLB/Boston’s 6. Zac Brown Band/Chicken Fried Ginny Rogers and son Ben. 7. Jake Owen/Barefoot Blue Jean Night 8. Dustin Lynch/Where It’s At Kenny 9. Miranda Lambert/Mama’s Broken Heart Chesney Happy Media: Nielsen On Audience 10. Dierks Bentley/Drunk On A Plane Radio and television continue to boast the most users in the United States and newer technologies including smartphones It used to be a rarity, but this is the second and tablets are increasing their footprints. That’s the overriding year in a row that five songs debuted in the top message of Nielsen’s Total Audience 10 – hits from Kenny Chesney, Brantley Gilbert Report released last week. The quarterly and Dierks Bentley, and from Sam Hunt and study examines penetration, users and Dustin Lynch, who have never had any songs usage across all media platforms by in the Top 100 until now. It’s the fourth year demographics including age, ethnicity, “Chicken Fried” has held court in the top 10, Brantley income and more. Country Aircheck takes a closer look and and the third year for the Blake Shelton and Gilbert discusses what one consultant calls “choice overload.” Jake Owen tunes. What It Is: For starters, radio continues to sit at the top of Other Top 100 rookies are Brett Eldredge (25, 41), Cole the list when it comes to the number of adult users per month Swindell (52, 59) and Thomas Rhett (57, 63), who each added with 240 million, which is actually up by a half percent or so from two songs to the list. Chase Rice (79), David Nail (74) and Eric the same period last year. Zoom out for a 12+ view and that Paslay (35) also bow their first songs. number increases to more than 263 million. By demo, P50-64 (continued on page 6) ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] July 5, 2016 Page 3 experiencing “choice overload” and radio must play to its strengths to stand out. “Today’s consumer has so many options it’s like trying to get a drink out of a firehose,” he says. “We have to acknowledge that new options are gaining strength and that the images in our rear view mirror are as close as they appear – even closer in the younger demos.” Fight complacency, be unique and send Phil Hunt capable talent to the front lines, Hunt urges. “We have to provide the most compelling and entertaining content of our broadcast lives with a clear, unique proposition from talent who know how to connect with an audience emotionally and in the language of 2016,” he says. “That means teases of a laundry list of artists coming up ain’t gonna cut it. I’m a consultant, so of course I’m going to recommend that you invest in your products and tell you to recruit and keep the best talent. There are just too many other places for your audience to go.” See Nielsen’s entire report here. For a deeper exploration of these issues and actionable strategies that exploit radio’s inherent strengths, revisit Edison’s 2016 CRS Research Presentation “Ear Wars” here. – Russ Penuell Chart Chat Source: Nielsen Total Audience Report, Q1 2016 Repeated congrats to Keith Urban, Royce Risser, Bobby Young, David Friedman, and P35-49 represent the largest blocks of monthly users, with each Shane Allen and the Capitol promotion staff encompassing 23% of the 12+ total. P65+ is next (18%), followed on “Wasted Time” spending a second week at by P25-54 (16%). Perhaps expectedly, the smallest blocks were P12- No. 1. The song is the third chart-topper from 17 and P18-34, which combined represent 20% of 12+ users. Urban’s current album Ripcord. Radio remains second to TV among adults with regard to time And kudos to Young and the Capitol crew spent per day, with one hour and 52 minutes to the tube’s four on landing 36 adds for Darius Rucker’s “If I hours and 31 minutes. The consistency with which radio is listened Told You,” topping this week’s board. to across demographics is second to none, however, as illustrated Keith Urban in the graph above. Even live TV saw swings of up to 24% across age groups. Panel Update Cumulus’ WDRQ/Detroit has been added to the Country The biggest “time spent” story may be that of tablets and Aircheck/Mediabase reporting panel. Airplay was effective smartphones, which saw increases from the same period last year Sunday, June 26 and is reflected in the chart published this week. of 63% and 60%, respectively. Daily time with smartphones was Revised weights for the entire panel are published on page 11. most comparable to radio at one hour and 39 minutes. Time spent watching DVDs was down by 11% compared with last year. What It Means: Nielsen’s report confirms radio’s continuing News & Notes strength, but offers a caution flag with regard to increased Jackson Radio Works Sports WIBM-AM & translator media competition. As consultant Phil Hunt puts it, listeners are W240DG/Jackson, MI flipped to Country as “The Power Cow.” ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] July 5, 2016 Page 6 Keith; he’s penned seven No. 1s. MY TUNES: MUSIC THAT SHAPED MY LIFE Dean Dillon joined Hedley Entertainment’s roster by signing an exclusive publishing deal. Willing’s Bobby Wills discusses his most Big Machine Music also added to its roster by signing an influential music: exclusive songwriting agreement with Emily Landis. 1. Keith Whitley: I was in my dad’s truck Songwriters Adam Hood, Charlie Pate and Aaron the first time I heard him. I thought, “This Raitiere have signed publishing agreements with Low Country isn’t just a singer. You can really feel what Sound and Warner/Chappell. he’s doing.” That’s what started me in Average Joes’ The Lacs have launched Barn Burner country music. Records and joined tour mates Hard Target to form Racket 2. Garth Brooks: I listened to him as a County, the first act on the imprint. Average Joes will handle teenager. He also started me in country music. distribution. 3. U2: Growing up, I always thought they Bobby Wills did such a great job with story telling. 4. Lee Ann Womack: Simply, I love everything about her. The Week’s Top Stories She’s beautiful and seems so down to earth. She could sing me Full coverage at countryaircheck.com. the phone book. • Hubbard’s WIL/St. Louis underwent multiple staff 5. Randy Travis: He does his own thing and is really, really changes. (7/5) country. I was very influenced by him and the way he delivers • CBS Radio/Detroit’s Tim Roberts was promoted to VP/Music his vocals. He’s one of those guys you never get tired of Programming. (7/5) listening to. • iHeartMedia Hot AC KOSO/Modesto, CA flipped to Country. • Highly regarded music you’ve never heard: I have (7/1) a friend who wrote songs for One Direction and he’s always • Four Country-related inductees are among those entering the asking me to listen. I’ve never heard anything they’ve done. Not Texas Radio Hall Of Fame for 2016. (7/1) on purpose;UPDATE I just haven’t. • CBS Radio WYCD/Detroit afternooner Linda Lee celebrated • “Important” music you just don’t get: I’m not a big jazz fan. 20 years with the station. (6/30) I’ve always had trouble accessing it – from both a musician’s point • Adams KGRT/Las Cruces, NM’s Larry “Big Red” of view and as a general listener. I can’t get into it. Stevens stepped down. (6/30) • An album you’ve played non-stop: Garth Brooks’ self- • iHeartMedia/St. Louis’ Tony Banks was named Dir./Talent titled album. I absolutely wore that out. Development, Central Division. (6/29) • An obscure or non-country song everyone should • CBS Radio/Detroit swing talent Roxanne Steele officially listen to right now: “MLK” by U2. I listen to it every single joined WYCD for middays. (6/28) evening.