Jacobs Media - Tech Survey II: HD Radio (Printer Friendly)

FROM:

DATE:

RE:

Fred Jacobs

April 10, 2006

JACOBS MEDIA TECH SURVEY II: HD RADIO

ROCK LISTENERS OPEN TO PURCHASING HD RADIOS,
BUT RADIO HAS TO WORK ON BUILDING AWARENESS

This is the next in our series of memos on the key findings from our recent Technology Web Poll. This version sheds specific light on radio’s HD initiative.

Awareness of HD Radio is in its embryonic stage, as only one in five Rockers say they know about this digital radio medium. But when asked about their interest in HD Radio, more than one-third of the sample say they’d be very or somewhat likely to purchase an HD Radio for approximately $300 after learning about its basic features.* Men, Mainstream Rockers, and those who classify themselves as “Early Adopters” when it comes to new technology purchases are more open to buying an HD Radio. Those familiar with HD Radio also have a greater inclination to spend money on a receiver, providing more indication that awareness has the strong potential to lead to down-the-road purchase.

*QUESTION WORDING: ”HD Radio makes it possible for radio stations to broadcast digitally. As mentioned, it also allows them to create new stations that you can hear with an HD Radio receiver. There is no subscription fee involved, so once you have an HD radio, you can access existing stations and new stations. Assuming that most of the stations in your city or town begin signing on new stations, how likely would you be to purchase an HD Radio if the cost is in the $300 range?”

To “test” whether respondents really have an understanding about HD Radio, those who expressed familiarity with this new concept were asked a series of four True/False questions. Overall, they were on firm ground about HD Radio about 57% of the time, on issues ranging from no subscription fee to additional stations that would be created with HD Radio. Males and “Early Adopters” were most likely to have the clearest pictures about HD Radio.

Two of the stations in this national survey – WRIF and WCSX, both in Detroit – got an earlier start than most outlets and have been broadcasting in HD since July, 2005. Each station also has an HD2 channel that is streamed on their respective websites. To get a sense for whether listeners who have had some longer exposure to HD Radio messages and promos have a greater awareness, respondents of both stations were isolated and analyzed.

While only one-fifth of the total national sample is aware of HD Radio, 50% of those who come from the WRIF and WCSX databases know about this new technology. Since both stations had been promoting HD Radio for just over six months when our survey was taken, awareness was swift.

However, of those WRIF and WCSX respondents who say they are aware of HD Radio, their overall knowledge about it is no better than that of the total sample’s. This leads us to conclude that the industry has much work ahead in educating consumers about the specific benefits of HD Radio.

Jacobs Media’s Technology Web Poll II was conducted in February, 2006, among more than 25,000 respondents across 79 different Rock-formatted stations. Participating stations represent Mainstream Rock, Classic Rock, and Alternative outlets. Of course, this is a web poll, and cannot replicate all radio listeners or even Rock radio listeners. As with all Internet-based research projects of this kind, the results reflect only those who choose to participate in the survey and do not necessarily represent the views of all Rock radio listeners in the country. Still, the 79 radio stations that invited their listeners to take the survey are a broad cross-section of Rock stations, in large and small markets, and those that play the newest Rock music and those that play only Classic Rock.

For more information please contact:

Fred Jacobs - fredjacobs@jacobsmedia.com
Paul Jacobs - pauljacobs@jacobsmedia.com
248-353-9030