Q&A of the Day – Why is Bloomberg advertising on conservative talk stations?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: When the Bloomberg ads come on, I have to go on mute.
What a catch-22 for talk radio -- of course take the $, but when Hollywood big mouth Michael Douglas comes the radio telling me how to vote...I throw up a little bit in my mouth. I guess I don't understand Bloomberg media buys on conservative talk programs. Is this a strategy to dampen down anti-Bloomberg 'rhetoric'? If Trump has taught us one thing - we're not buying politicians like we buy soap any more!! Neither $1B in advertising or a team of wild Russian horses can drag my vote away..........Another great show today!!
Bottom Line: I hear you and understand. Whether it’s political ads or any other message – if you don’t like the message/product/service in this case politician you don’t want to hear it. It’s rare that I go a day without hearing at least one complaint about one of the ads airing. Ever since Bloomberg hit the airwaves with a bang... I’ve heard similar messages from listeners regularly. I have answers for your question but first here’s how I’d like for you and all listeners to view the ads you don’t identify with...It helps the format. It’s super simple. If we don’t make money for those who operate our stations – we aren’t on the air. The more money that’s made on our format, the greater the opportunity and reach for our message. As a conservative, you can take solace in knowing that Michael Bloomberg is contributing to the viability of talk radio. As for the why...Ratings and demographic information is fluid so I’m going to use approximations based on recent industry research along with broad data from a comprehensive study I commissioned in South Florida in 2006.
Talk Radio is far and away the most engaged audio format. Due to the nature of the format, which is active listening, our audience is 2-3 times more responsive to messaging than audiences in other formats. Our audience is generally 65% male and 35% female. And when it comes to politics...if you happened to see Howard Stern’s movie Private Parts in the 90’s - you might remember this line.Those who don’t like him listen even longer because they want to see what he’s going to say next! There’s an element of that going on here too.
Yes, most of our audience is conservative but it’s far from everyone.Ideologically – here's an approximate average:
- 64% Republican
- 21% Independent/Third party
- 15% Democrat
So, to start with, he’s likely to directly reach 15% of the most engaged Democrats in South Florida by using the format. But here’s another way of looking this. Given the format’s response rate being 2 to 3 times others, 15% is the effectual equivalent of reaching 30%-45% of those who’d likely be activated by the message. That’s the power of talk radio. It also shows me the people running his ad buys are smart. The Democrats who avoid us operate on assumptions that aren’t wise. The rare ones who engage get it. I’d expect nothing less of the data driven Bloomberg. The final cog in the Bloomberg puzzle is the New York connection. There’s a really good chance that many South Floridians of various political stripes once voted for him in New York. Is it possible an independent might register as a Democrat to vote for Bloomberg if they liked him enough? It’s possible anyway.