Wake Me Up! Country Radio Seminar 2015 Research Presentation
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The document summarizes research from a study called "Wake Me Up" which examined media usage and behaviors of Americans in the morning. It provides data from over 1500 interviews and diaries tracking what people do from waking up until arriving at work. Key findings include that most people wake up to alarms on mobile devices, spend an average of 14 minutes in bed after waking checking devices, and listen to radio most during their morning commute between 7-8am.
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Wake Me Up! Country Radio Seminar 2015 Research Presentation
- 1. “Wake Me Up” CRS 2015 Research Presentation
- 2. “Wake Me Up” Media Radio Waking Up Getting Ready On the Road At Work
- 3. “Wake Me Up” The “Wake Me Up” Study: 1540 online interviews Adults 18-54 Conducted on weekdays Respondents kept a diary of that morning’s behaviors In-home interviews conducted in Houston, Las Vegas, Scranton Man-on-the-street interviews conducted in downtown Las Vegas and Times Square
- 4. Waking Up
- 5. Waking up
- 6. Waking up 40% of Americans identify as a “morning person” 45% of Country Listeners identify as a “morning person”
- 7. 9 14 7 23 10 13 5 9 2 5 2 54 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Before 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 % waking at that time Cumulative total awake When did you wake up this morning? Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 8. “Wake Me Up” An alarm woke you up 41% Your internal clock woke you up 31% Someone else woke you up 20% A pet woke you up 7% You were woken some other way 1% How did you wake up this morning? Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 9. “Wake Me Up” An alarm woke you up 41% Your internal clock woke you up 31% Someone else woke you up 20% A pet woke you up 7% You were woken some other way 1% How did you wake up this morning? Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 10. “Wake Me Up” A mobile device 45% Traditional alarm, set to beep or buzz 33% Traditional alarm, set to radio 16% Traditional alarm, set to another form of music 6% How did you wake up this morning? Alarm type used Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 11. “Wake Me Up” Average time spent in bed after waking: 14minutes Three out of every four Country Listeners stay in bed when they first wake up Base: Frequent Country listeners; Did not get out of bed immediately after waking up 15% stay in bed for more than 30 mins
- 12. “Wake Me Up” 58 40 17 15 0 20 40 60 80 100 Any mobile device usage Any social network usage Any TV watching Any AM/FM listening Which of the following things did you do during the half hour after you woke up? Base: Frequent Country listeners; Did not get out of bed immediately after waking up
- 13. “Wake Me Up” 61 59 52 36 34 34 20 15 0 20 40 60 80 100 Alarm Clock Television Smartphone Radio Laptop Tablet Desktop Computer Landline Phone Which of the following devices do you have in your bedroom? Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 14. “Wake Me Up” What is the first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning? Base: Frequent Country Listeners 40% Use the bathroom 11% Make coffee 11% Check on children 9% Check email 9% Get Dressed 5% Check phone for messages
- 15. “Wake Me Up” Be present during the first moments of the day “Wake Me Up”
- 16. “Wake Me Up” Be the alarm “Wake Me Up”
- 17. “Wake Me Up” You have a hardware problem “Wake Me Up”
- 18. Getting Ready
- 19. “Wake Me Up” The average Country listener performs 23 tasks on a weekday morning
- 20. Getting Ready
- 21. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 22. “Wake Me Up” Use Social Network 77% Use mobile device 87% Check Weather 68% Audio Listening 69% Base: Frequent Country Listeners Use computer 76% Get Dressed 84% Eat Breakfast 69%
- 23. “Wake Me Up” 67 66 63 61 61 58 56 55 53 52 51 51 Use mobile device to check text messages Check Facebook Use computer to check email Take shower/bathe Drink coffee/tea Drink other beverage Style hair Prepare breakfast Any AM/FM listening Make your bed Check missed phone calls/make calls Check the news Please mark all the items you did at least once this morning? Page 1 Base: Frequent Country Listeners
- 24. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 5:00a - 6:00a Feed/care for pet Take medication
- 25. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 6:00a - 6:30a Get dressed Check Facebook Shower / bath Brush teeth Check Weather Wake children Shave
- 26. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 6:30a - 7:00a Eat breakfast Work out Get kids ready Check news Check traffic
- 27. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 7:00a - 7:30a Drink Coffee/tea Commute to work Check email (on mobile) Listen to AM/FM Radio Take children to school
- 28. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 7:30a - 8:00a Other drink Read the paper Household chores Pray
- 29. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 8:00a - 8:30a Apply makeup Listen to audio (on mobile) Listen to audio (on computer)
- 30. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 8:30a - 9:00a Check email (on computer) Watch video (on mobile device) Play with children School related tasks
- 31. “Wake Me Up” Base: Frequent Country Listeners Peak Period: 9:00a – 10:00a Check text messages Listen to internet- only radio Check missed calls/make calls Work related tasks
- 32. Coffee Talk
- 33. Michelob
- 34. “Wake Me Up” Arm your team with relevant info “Wake Me Up”
- 35. “Wake Me Up” Nod to their busy lives “Wake Me Up”
- 36. On the Road
- 37. On the Road
- 38. Base: Frequent Country Listeners The peak in-car hour is 7a-8a
- 39. “Wake Me Up” 1-10 23% 11-20 34% 21-30 22% 31-45 16% 46 or more 5% How long, in minutes, is your typical commute to work (one way)? Mean: 26 Minutes Base: Frequent Country listeners; Employed full or part time not inside the home
- 40. “Wake Me Up” Your own vehicle 87% Someone else's vehicle 6% Train/subway/bus 5% Another mode 2% Which of the following is your primary mode of transportation? Base: Frequent Country Listeners; Employed full or part time not inside home
- 41. “Wake Me Up” What percentage of commuters are alone in the car? Alone for the entire drive 86% With other people for at least part of the drive 14% Base: Frequent Country listeners; In a car between 5am and 10am
- 42. “Wake Me Up” 85 32 31 23 7 7 0 20 40 60 80 100 AM/FM Radio CDs Your own music collection Satellite Radio Podcasts Internet radio Which of these do you use in your car on weekdays between 5am and 10am? Base: Frequent Country listeners; In a car between 5am and 10am
- 45. At Work
- 46. 3 3 9 13 28 38 64 76 83 87 Before 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 When are respondents at work? % at work by that time
- 47. “Wake Me Up” Are morning shows too long?
- 49. Morning Radio
- 50. Morning Radio
- 51. “Wake Me Up” 73 66 60 45 45 41 39 39 36 34 34 34 29 0 20 40 60 80 100 Music Weather updates Funny, light topics in news Traffic updates Artists playing music live in the studio Contests Interactive listener features Politics and current events Celebrity news Prank phone calls Celebrity interviews Health, finance, life tips Love/relationship topics How much do you like hearing the following elements on your favorite morning radio show? Base: Frequent Country listeners; Listen to AM/FM radio weekday mornings % saying they like
- 52. “Wake Me Up” 88 86 82 81 70 70 66 62 0 20 40 60 80 100 News of the day Laughs Local connection Ideas for things to do around town What are you looking for in a radio morning program? Information for planning the day like traffic and weather Interesting stories you wouldn’t otherwise know/ “water cooler” topic Feeling like you have a relationship/friendship with the hosts Updates on things going on in the community Base: Frequent Country listeners ;Listen to AM/FM radio weekday mornings % saying yes
- 53. “Wake Me Up” There are four types of morning radio
Editor's Notes
- Country Radio Seminar 2015 Research Presentation: “Wake Me Up” Presented by Edison Research’s Larry Rosin and Megan Lazovick February 26, 2015 For more information visit www.edisonresearch.com Or email Mlazovick@edisonresearch.com
- This year we are delving into mornings. And of course mornings, for most people are divided into four parts. The video we just watched reflects these stages. There’s 1) waking up – those first moments of one’s day – like Bill Murray getting up day after day in Groundhog Day. There’s 2) Getting Ready – that period of time at home when one is getting the day going – people are washing up like Ferris, making breakfast like PeeWee, exercising like the gang from Monsters Inc, and frantically getting ready like in Home Alone. For many people that leads to 3) Time on the road– the commute to work or school and of course that key radio time – and often frustration time like our friends from Office Space. And then 4) for many – indeed for most – work begins well within that “Morning Drive” daypart of 5 to 10am. So we’re going to walk you through these four stages of the morning. And while we are looking for insights about just what people are doing; at all times we are looking at another layer – what 5) media people are consuming and 6) where radio fits into that mix. And we have a lot of thought starters for you to consider for when you head back to your market. Here’s how we went about this exploration:
- We collected information in three ways this year. 1) First, we performed in-home interviews with country radio listeners in Houston, Las Vegas, and Scranton Pennsylvania. We talked with people about what their mornings are like, and we will show you videos of what we saw and heard. 2) In a fun additional twist we conducted some ‘man (and woman) on the street interviews with people at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas and at Times Square in New York where we asked people a variety of questions about mornings. 3) Most importantly, we performed an exhaustive national survey of adults 18 to 54 – conducted entirely on weekdays – where our respondents told us all about their behaviors in the morning and attitudes about mornings. In addition to answering lots of general questions about mornings – they kept a diary of their behaviors on that very morning, explaining how their day tracked along. The survey generated an enormous amount of information – vastly more than we could ever cover this morning, where we will present the highlights. So we should stress that this is your data as a participant at CRS. If you have a question about what’s in this study – email us or come find us here at CRS – we will be happy to share whatever additional insights we have from this survey.
- The next part of the morning is that transition – that move from the ‘getting up’ station to ‘getting ready for your day.” And if there is any single word that can describe this period – it is “busy.”
- You get a sense from this video that not everyone wakes up ready to face the day. For a lot of people sleep is, frankly, a favorite activity. In fact – a majority of people do not consider themselves “a morning person.” They’re like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day – stammering around in a daze. But 40% of people are Ned Ryerson – up and at ‘em and bounding into their day. Beyond that we found an interesting nugget – frequent Country listeners -- about a quarter of our sample -- are much more likely to be morning people. While still not a majority – 45% of Country fans wake up easily.
- So let’s go to the data and see when Country listeners start their day. Nine percent of Country listeners are already up at 5am – when many radio morning shows sign on the air. Another 14% will awaken by 5:30. As we scroll through we see that the peak time for getting up is between 6:00am and 6:30am. Fully 23% of Country fans will rise in that half-hour, and that is the point when more than half of your audience is now awake. Another 23% will rise between 6:30 and 7:30 – and now most all respondents will be awake. But little dribs and drabs of Country fans sleep in – and 18% of Country listeners have the luxury of sleeping past 8am.
- We asked our respondents how they woke up – and the results are really interesting. Contrary to what I would have guessed, only 41% of Country listeners ages 18-54 are awakened by an alarm. And while most mornings I myself do rise before the alarm goes off – I was surprised to learn that 31% of people also just, ‘get up.’ More than one-quarter are awakened either by another person or a pet.
- But let’s look a little more deeply at the group that is awakened by an alarm.
- We see that the mobile revolution is fully in place for alarms. Nearly half of Country fans who were awakened by an alarm used their phones. Only one-in-six alarm users told us they used the radio from a, presumably, clock radio to get themselves up – in the fashion that Bill Murray used in Groundhog Day – day after day after day. Now, we don’t know if anyone awakened by their phone is using an app from a radio station to get themselves up – but let’s assume it’s a small portion of that group. I still think this is a huge opportunity for radio. If you think it’s an opportunity – there simply has to be a way to create a radio-alarm clock app that can get you this first interaction of the day. The technology exists for people to get a personalized greeting from the morning team, insert perhaps that day’s weather forecast – and then tie to the stream. Or such things. And we have the megaphone. Shouldn’t we be pushing this?
- So far we know when people get up and what awakens them. What we learned next really surprised us. The overwhelming majority of people, upon awakening, stay in bed. Three-quarters of Country listeners – the first thing they do is STAY IN BED. And not only do they stay in bed – but they stay in bed for a while. The average person spends 14 minutes awake but still in bed – and 15% told us they stay in bed for more than 30 minutes!
- So we wanted to get a sense for media usage among those people who were staying in bed. We compiled the numbers for media usage mentions among those people who did not get out of bed – and the results weren’t encouraging for radio. As you can see 58% told us they used their phones or tablets during that period, and 40% mentioned social media – presumably using that mobile device. And while 17% said they watch television, only 15% said they are listening to the radio. This matches with many trends we see – television is beating radio in these first moments. And of course the smartphone has really been a morning game-changer.
- And in fact we asked our respondents what they have in their bedrooms. To me these results are somewhat astounding. Three-in every five bedrooms have a television in it – but under two in five have a radio. I so wish we had this data point from a generation ago. I have to believe twenty years ago radio would have been way more prevalent than televisions in bedrooms.
- But eventually, everyone gets out of bed. So we asked our respondents – what’s the very first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning. Let me hear a guess from the audience – what is the number one thing…the number one thing… that people told us they do first when they get out of bed? That’s right – the most common ‘first thing’ is to go to the bathroom. Is there a radio opportunity there? Well – there are a lot of creative people in this room – that might make for an interesting brainstorm. The other primary answers are interesting as well. Eleven percent said they made coffee, and another 11% said the first thing they did was check on their children. Nine percent said check email – and somewhat amazing, to me, 9% of country people said the very first thing they do is get dressed. These people must have bladders made of steel. Another 5% told us the very first thing they do is check their phone for messages.
- So our first conclusion is: Find SOME WAY to get that first moment of the day – the time when the overwhelming majority are staying in bed – or when they first get out of bed. Brainstorm with your teams – what could you do that would make someone want to tune in your radio first thing in the morning? Once upon a time we had the birthday game – and by the way not that we couldn’t today – but we KNOW people used to wake up for that. Who is out there creating promotions, contests, or simply content that will make your fans tune to you before they go to the television or possibly even to their phones? Or – that they use their phones to tune to you. But I really think almost every morning show envisions people in the same place at the same time – and that place is probably in the car. Well, no. While people in cars are way more likely to be listening to radio, way more people are at home during the early morning hours – and many of them are in bed. How can we get them to listen to us at that moment?
- As I already mentioned – be the alarm. We truly were this once. When the Phil Connors character in Groundhog Day was awakened by that morning team each day, no one thought it odd or out of place – and this movie came out in 1993. That’s only 22 years ago. If radio always was the alarm that woke you up in a happy way – it simply can’t be beyond us to reconnect that functionality for many people. The only thing holding us back is our creativity.
- But we can’t deny that we have a hardware problem. Now all the people in this room, or at least the overwhelming majority, are software people. Radio programmers are creating the software content that comes out of speakers, and the music industry is doing the same. Today, an alarmingly low number of people tell us they have our hardware in their bedrooms. This means to me, we can either, seriously, engage in a campaign to somehow get more radios into bedrooms – after all they are cheap. But we’re really not in the hardware business. So the only realistic choice is to get your software more integrated into the platforms that people already have in their bedrooms – the phone and the television set. Right now, it is as if we’ve created this amazing app but we stubbornly are only making it available on the blackberry. When you go back to your market – I’m telling you to come up with a plan to get your morning team available on the television. And, at the same time, you need to promote the crap out of your station app – if you have one. If you take only one thing home from this presentation – let it be that you simply cannot depend on people having the hardware that allows for listening.
- The next part of the morning is that transition – that move from the ‘getting up’ station to ‘getting ready for your day.” And if there is any single word that can describe this period – it is “busy.”
- In fact, we asked about 69 possible activities that one could perform during this getting-ready period in our survey. Your listeners told us they performed, on average, 23 of those activities on their survey day. People are doing a LOT in a compressed period of time.
- So let’s watch our respondents as they get ready for their days.
- As you heard from them, and as we see from our data – people are doing an astounding number of things in a compressed time as they get ready for their day. Let’s look at what percent do some of the more universal items.
- Of all the things we asked about, after things like using the toilet and brushing teeth, the single most common answer for what 18-54s do in the morning is ‘use a mobile device’. What makes that even more amazing is that this number outstripped GETTING DRESSED! It even beat eating breakfast. But it’s good to know that people are as likely to consume audio at some point in their morning, as eat breakfast. And in most cases that audio is your audio.
- Here are some of the other top items on the list. Over three out of five people drink coffee in the morning. That’s way more than, for instance, the number of people who make their own bed or check the news. Keep that one in mind.
- We can also look at the data another way, that you and your morning teams might find interesting – what is the ‘peak hour’ for different activities? So for instance, if one does care for or feed a pet, the 5am hour is the likeliest hour to do so. Same with taking medication.
- The half hour between 6:00a and 6:30a is a key time for a number of activities. It was the likeliest time for personal activities like showering, brushing teeth, shaving and dressing. It was also the peak time for checking Facebook – a ‘first thing in the morning’ activity for so many people.
- From 6:30a to 7:00a it’s the peak period to check news and traffic, but also to work out, eat breakfast, and get kids going.
- Our survey said that 7:00a to 7:30a is the peak time for radio listening and commuting or taking kids to school – things that are all linked. It’s very much worth noting that this is also the peak half-hour for drinking coffee.
- Not that many items peaked at 7:30a – but it’s interesting that household chores, reading the paper, and praying were tops between 7:30a and 8:00a.
- At 8:00a a lot of people are getting to work. Applying makeup was highest between 8:00a and 8:30a – as we have seen this is often done while driving… and as people get to work those who listen to online audio are likeliest to fire that up in this half-hour period
- And then if one has small children then playing with them peaks at 8:30a, as do school related tasks. Note that checking email on a computer peaks at this time, doubtlessly as people get to work.
- At 9:00a the peak items are mostly work related, making calls, checking texts, listening to Pandora. Most of our sample worked, and most of them are long at work by 9:00a.
- So with so much going on, people doing so many things in such a compressed period of time, we wanted to know what makes it all happen. Well in our man-on-the-street interviews it was clear that two things help make it possible to deal with such a frantic time.
- Well – this makes me think of something. As discussed, we need to understand the battle for people’s time in the morning. We’re not just battling the other morning shows, we’re battling television, people’s phones, Facebook, of course Pandora and Spotify, and the millions of other things one might choose to do in the morning. What I think you should think about is a trigger. Radio morning shows need to attach their listening to something that people are doing – and that thing just might be coffee. Watch this commercial from the 1970s – I’m wondering how many of you are old enough to remember it. Weekends are made for Michelob. What they were doing was trying to trigger thoughts of Michelob – when it was the weekend and time to buy the beer – they were hoping you would connect the dots while you stood in front of the options at the liquor store. Why aren’t we trying the same thing? What could we do to trigger thoughts of our morning shows? Think creatively – how could you get to the point that whenever someone takes that oh-so-needed first sip of coffee in the morning – they connect that action to your morning show? There has to be a way. One thought I have is – I know you can buy advertising on the sleeves that you put around coffee cups at the convenience stores – why aren’t you on there? Or to be more ambitious – why aren’t you developing special blends of coffee that you can give out as a promotional device? KISW, a rock station in Seattle, is making all kinds of money with a microbrew beer that they sell. Why isn’t your morning team developing the same idea with coffee? Who better to sell coffee than a morning show? And what better to make you think of your morning show than coffee?
- Your morning team should work with this information. Let them know when the most people are doing things. At what time are the most people getting dressed or getting kids dressed? That’s when you want to stress the weather. At what time are people heading out? That’s the most opportune time for traffic – if you are even going to do traffic at all. Understand that people are busy and maybe provide hints for how to make this time more efficient. Talk to people where they are.
- I will say as I listen to morning shows around the country – I can’t say I hear a lot of empathy for what is going on in your listeners’ lives during these hours. I suggest talking to your morning teams about what this data shows – and give them a better sense for the lives your listeners lead.
- Let’s now turn to the third part of our morning – when so many of our listeners are on the road to work or school. Let’s watch our respondents again.
- As we already saw, the peak hour for in-car listening is 7:00a to 8:00a.
- Of course this section really varies by market and market size, but in our national survey the average commute time is 26 minutes one way. And as we heard on that video – this is YOUR time. This is the key time for radio in the day – the overwhelming majority of our survey respondents told us that their in-car media choice was broadcast radio.
- Let’s take a bit of a closer look so we can understand the morning commute. As you can see here – 87 percent of Country listeners who travel to work do so in their own vehicle.
- And….86 percent of THEM are alone in that vehicle for the entire drive. And that’s who you are targeting with your morning content – someone who is alone, in their car, with you along for the ride.
- As we mentioned, the radio is overwhelmingly dominant in-car. This is our turf, and only we can lose it with mistakes at this point.
- So as we have seen – for a huge percentage of the audience, this is your market, the person who is alone and in the car. It’s a huge market. It’s probably the single biggest point of contact between a radio host or team and an individual. You are the person riding shotgun to work (since no one actually is). Again – how is your morning host or team relating to this person? Especially on mornings like today here in Nashville, where there are significant traffic problems. And I’m not just talking about providing traffic information– I’m talking about truly relating to this person.
- And I want to throw out perhaps the most thought provoking item of the day: The morning break strategy on most stations might be misguided. People are in their cars for goodness sake. And yet we do these staccato breaks – lots of short content bursts interrupted regularly by spots. We are talking to people at the one place they have the MOST access to the station-changing button and we create radio that is designed for tuneouts. I want you all to think about this: should you totally reconsider your morning clock? When you know that most people are in their cars – isn’t THAT when you should be providing long content blocks that are NOT interrupted by commercials? All I’ll say is that this was long the unappreciated part of Howard Stern’s success – he swept through quarter-hours with content and then stacked his commercials. I just want you all to take a look at the clock you employ when you know people are in their cars and ask yourself if it is truly geared for that time and place.
- The final element of mornings is at-work listening – listening that I don’t have to tell you is utterly crucial to ratings.
- What jumps out about this graph is that most people who work are at work well before the time that most morning shows end. So here’s yet another thought for you all to consider – regardless of what times we have always considered “morning drive time” and regardless of what you’re doing now…
- Does your morning show stay on too long? Are they still chattering long after the bulk of the listening base is in at-work mode and no longer interested in that high-involvement interaction?
- So as we said at the beginning, there are two layers on top of all this. First – there’s the general world of media, and then there’s the role of morning radio. Let’s first delve into general Media in the Morning.
- One thing that really came through in our interviews was just how connected people are to the best of morning radio. Let’s listen to what they had to say about what they like from morning radio.
- We asked Country fans who listen to morning radio what they like. Three items are ‘consensus items’ – Music, Weather, and what we called “Funny light topics in the news.” And then there is a broad list of items with significant interest – including some interesting things like “Artists playing music live in the studio” – and “interactive listener features like trivia contests or topic of the day.”
- And we also asked what people are looking for in a morning radio program. ALL of these did well – but I want to point out a couple: 81% said “interesting stories you wouldn’t otherwise know/water cooler topics.” And 70% said “a local connection,” 70% said “updates on things going on in the community,” and 66% said “ideas for things to do around town.” Many of you will remember I went off on local last year – it’s nice to see how many country radio fans agree with me.
- In summary, the main point we hope you take away from this presentation is that there is not just one “morning strategy.” If you are basically doing the same thing for four or five hours on your morning show – you are three strategies short. There are four distinct parts to an employed person or student’s morning. There’s that waking up time, the busy ‘get ready’ period, the commute and work (or school). Strategies should be tailored to each of those. The information in this presentation can help you tailor what your host or team is doing to the specifics of the Country fans’ lifestyles.