TSL is the Holy Grail for most radio stations, and heavier listeners to radio is the best source to mine for that gold. Who are those people and what attracts them?

Using data from both current and past “What Women Want” studies Alan Burns and Associates has conducted (most recently With Cumulus Media/ Westwood One’s Audio Active Group) we see five broad themes describing heavier listeners. In this year’s study we divided the 1,001 women into the 50% who listened more and those who listened less to radio during the past week, and looked for the largest differences between the two groups.

The “heaviest half” generated not just “more” radio listening but a LOT more: they reported spending more than five times as many hours with radio as the lighter half.

How, and why? Here are the major differences we found between lighter and heavier users.

First of all, heavier users really like radio a lot. They're more than twice as likely than lighter listeners to say they look forward to listening to radio. They're much more likely to say that there's at least one radio station around that understands them very well. They'd be more disappointed if they couldn't listen to radio.

Next, heavier listeners are more likely to be employed full time and commute 5 days a week.

The third difference is where - and how - they listen.  While they may spend more time in their car than lighter users, they are also more likely to listen to radio in other places: they are far less likely to say they listen to radio only in a car, and more likely to listen to music (including radio ) at work as well. Since a quarter or more of all radio listeners lack a physical radio at home and/ or work, heavy listeners are more than twice as likely to have listened to local radio via an online stream in the past week. They are also almost twice as likely to do at least some of their listening wearing headphones or earbuds. When you put your earbuds in, everyone no longer has to agree on what to listen to at work.

The fourth difference is a big reason why heavy listeners like radio so much: it makes them feel better. Members of the “heavy half” are about 60% more likely to say they listen for escape and mood improvement. They are almost twice as likely to say that fun and funny in morning drive is very important to them. They're more likely to say that “fun” is the best description of their favorite radio station. And they're more likely to enjoy contests: Strategic Radio Solutions/ Point To Point Marketing’s “What Workers Want” study found that 62% of contest players are heavy listeners.

The fifth and final difference Is that heavier listeners like new things, new experiences. Compared to the lighter listeners among our 1,001 women in our survey, the heavier users are over 2.5 times more likely to say they try new things before most of their friends; they're more interested in new songs and artists; and they're more likely to have used AI.

Those are the big differences. What can you do with those? Here's what we see as the action items to attract heavier radio listeners to your station:

1. Give them fun and novelty, and not just in morning drive. Don't be stale. Be reliable, but not too predictable.
2. Go after them in locations other than just the car. Do things involving people at work, people at home. Ask for the order.
3. To help them listen in places where they may not have a radio, make sure listeners know where and how they can listen on their phone, their computer,  and on your smart speaker. Make sure your app is easy to download and use. For more on that,  see this blog post.

You can download the “What Women Want – 2024”  slide deck from this page of the Alan Burns and Associates website or view the webinar video at Westwood One.

Happy hunting!