• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 6, 2006

Listeners who tune into all-sports, all-news, classical, and talk radio are more likely to live in households with financial investments than audiences for other kinds of programming, according to a report released Thursday by Scarborough Research, a joint venture between radio ratings firm Arbitron and VNU Media Measurement and Information.

The study specifically found that all-sports listeners were 27 percent more likely to belong to families that own financial investments of any kind, 44 percent more likely to belong to families that own stocks or stock options, and 43 percent more likely to belong to families that have a 401(k). One obvious explanation for this phenomenon is the fact that "all-sports obviously attracts a predominantly male demographic," according to Howard Goldberg, senior vice president of radio services at Scarborough--at a time when 74 percent of men participate in the workforce, versus 60 percent of women.

Other factors probably play a role in the correlation between investment and programming types like classical music and all-news radio. Notably, all-news listeners are 48 percent more likely to own stocks or stock options; here, class and educational background are plausible explanations for correlation.

But as Goldberg noted, there were important correlations with less obvious genres as well: "We were interested to learn that children's programming has a high percentage of listeners with 401(k)s. Of course, that makes sense once you think about it: the adult listeners clearly are raising families and building nest eggs for the future."

The results of the Scarborough study hold some promise for radio's market specificity at a time when radio ad revenues are moribund. "Revenues for radio have been flat over the past couple years, so radio is always looking for new growth in new categories," Goldberg said. "And financial is one of the hardest to crack. But this study shows that radio, as fragmented as it is, allows you to reach very desirable demographics if you find the right format."

The Scarborough results also seem to suggest a bright future for HD digital "multi-casts" that offer more niche programming, for example in "all-news," "all-talk," or "all-basketball" formats. "Tracking these listener characteristics will be ever more important as HD is coming down the pipeline," Goldberg predicted confidently. "The multi-casts are going to allow you to reach more specific demographics, and you can really focus ad spending if you know who's listening to what and who you're talking to."

In the same vein, Gerry Boehme, senior vice president of strategic planning at Katz Radio, agreed: "What the Scarborough study has done is show that radio can engage very specific groups of listeners, which is obviously valuable as HD radio rolls out." Specifically, Boehme went on, "HD radio is going to allow more lifestyle-specific programming," including targeting "people with an interest in finance or investment."