High Resolution | |||
Background: Basic definitions | |||
Background: Intermediate level | |||
Background: Full Treatment | |||
Format Flavors | |||
Operative Affinity |
Appeal & Affinity Basics
Appeal
Every radio program is like a magnet. It attracts certain types of people and leaves others unmoved; it may even repulse some.
This attraction is called appeal, and like magnetism we cant see it directly we can only see its effects.
We characterize a programs appeal by the type of people drawn to it. For instance, a program that attracts older listeners has an "older" appeal thats qualitatively different from a program with a "younger" appeal.
Discrete programs have appeal. Format blocks have appeal. Indeed, stations have appeal. In every case, appeal is characterized by the qualities of the listeners who are attracted.
AffinityAffinity is the degree to which two appeals match. It can be high, non-existent, or somewhere in between.
Programs with extremely similar audiences that is, with the same appeal have high affinity. Conversely, programs that appeal to very different types of listeners have no affinity.
Similarly, a programs appeal can be compared to a stations appeal to yield the affinity between the pair in other words, the degree to which the two audiences will mesh.
The degree of affinity informs the appropriateness of a program decision.
Programs with no affinity serve different audiences and dont work well together. Programs with no affinity with a stations audience do not contribute to the stations public service.
Public ServiceRadio stations serve the public best when they focus their appeal on a certain type of listener.
Its the privilege of the licensee and management to choose that listener. But once chosen, the greatest public service focuses like a laser to meet his needs and interests, and the needs and interests of people like him.
Commercial stations focus on the age, sex, and sometimes race of the listener. Public stations typically operate in a fourth dimension of education: their listeners are often the most highly educated in town.
ResolutionOur assessment of appeal is only as fine as the lenses through which we view listeners. Sex, age, and race are usually sufficient to resolve differences in appeals.
AUDIENCE 98
® adds the high resolution lenses of education and VALSTM2. Do programs that look the same under the sex/age/race lens look different when the educational attainment or VALS of their audiences are viewed?Powerful before, our lens can now resolve even finer traits. The sharply detailed audience portraits that result inform even more appropriate and powerful programming decisions.
David Giovannoni
AUDIENCE 98 Core Team
Audience Research Analysis
Copyright © ARA and CPB. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 01, 2000 12:38 PM.