The Difference Between Smart and Dumb Impressions

Apr 29, 2015 by Mark Maier

Radio Sales Today reports there are some stark differences between impressions delivered...

"A dumb impression is an impression delivered to a broad audience. A smart impression has some kind of overlay: demographics, psychographics, consumer habits...

According to Matt Cutair, AudioHQ, if you don't have the base level of age, sex, and location in your first-party listener data, you will be limited in rates you can charge. It is possible to buy third-party data about your audience, but your profit margin will be reduced. 

Knowing your audience allows you to better engage listeners. Sam Cole of 7digital said radio listeners are more loyal when they are interactively engaged with the station. That engagement gets better results for advertisers. Better results earn higher rates. 

Cole said even stations that are streaming are not using the data that are available from any streaming provider. For example, do your programmers know the number one song that causes people to switch off the stream? Any streaming provider makes available those kind of data.

Cole said that if there was one thing broadcast radio should do it is turn listeners into registered users.

Alexis van de Wyer from Adswizz adds that besides having the data from registrations, you must use the data. He emphasized, don't be afraid of data, use it. 

Jeff Wender of Nielsen suggests stations concentrate on the right data rather than just lots of data. Have the right data that match advertisers' KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). 

Cutair says smart impressions increase CPM 50-100%... plus having the data often helps get in on the buy."Related Categories