[cma-l] Community Radio Spot Rate
Tony Bailey
ravensound at pilgrimsound.co.uk
Tue Feb 3 11:11:46 GMT 2015
There's a great deal of good advice on this thread and I don't have a
take on 24/7 operation, although our experience over many years of RSLs
was that we could always sell spots locally to cover our licence costs
even though I was never sure the shops got more customers! The basic
rate was around 50 quid excluding production (1980's - 90's) for 28 days
(cash up front!). One thing no one has mentioned I think, we closed
down a few shops, or rather, they were using radio as a last gasp
attempt! Another thing, don't let anyone tell you that small scale
commercial radio is bad competition - we certainly generated customers
for ILR after we introduced them to radio advertising.
Tony Bailey
On 02/02/15 18:14, David Duffy wrote:
> Alan asked 'Can your station survive if you charge 23p per spot?' The
> short answer is probably, so long as that is not your only product.
>
> Don't forget, clients will expect a discount if they buy more that one
> spot so that 23p at list will rapidly become 16p at discount. Then you
> have to ask, will the discounted price cover the cost of sales (COS)?
> If not then raise the list price. If it does cover COS then at
> least it's making some (small) contribution to the business. Whether
> it contributes to your profitability depends on your underlying costs.
> And we all know their are great disparities in this sector when it
> comes to operating costs.
>
> The problem with underpricing a product is that the perceived value is
> reduced. And remember - the value is not related to the worth. Worth
> is the language of the seller and is about what the seller can get.
> Value is the language of the buyer and is about the usefulness or
> desirability of the product to the buyer. Value is not a number.
> Sometimes, as Nick pointed out so graphically, some prospective
> customers cannot see the value (even if you gave it to them for
> free!). Equally, as Alan points out rising the price can work. I
> often recount the story of how Remington increased the price for its
> electric razors and gained more customers because people associated
> the low price with low value. Raising the price raised the perceived
> value.
>
> Pippa's 'Enterprise hour' keys into an emerging trend for 'native
> advertising' that we are working on with a number of community
> stations. It allow stations to attract income by airing content that
> is of interest to listeners and doesn't compromise the non-commercial
> sound of the station.
>
> I've done a lot of work on product and service pricing over the years
> and it often bears no relationship either to worth or value. We have
> this simple table <http://www.theradiopeople.co.uk/pricing> which you
> might find useful. It shows the 6 pricing strategies
> <http://www.theradiopeople.co.uk/pricing> that are most commonly used
> in radio. Enjoy!
>
> All the best
>
> David
> Senior Partner - The Radio People
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> On 2 Feb 2015, at 17:17, Pippa at Curly Radio <pippa at curlyradio.com
>> <mailto:pippa at curlyradio.com>> wrote:
>>
>> My goodness I'm surprised to read that you wanted to charge charities
>> to advertise their events. Before I set up Wycombe Sound, another
>> CR practitioner warned me "not to bring a charity in, because
>> otherwise they will all want a go".
>> In Wycombe, over two RSLs we actively invited charities to come in
>> and talk about their work and events. Many did, and with only the
>> shortest reference to fundraising as we wound up the interviews.
>> Listeners loved hearing about all the good work which was going on
>> under their noses, which otherwise they wouldn't know about.
>> As a result of the interesting and varied local content, which
>> obviously contained more than just interviews with charities, the
>> audience built quickly and businesses came knocking with cash in
>> hand/because they knew we were reaching listeners./
>> Going further, in Wycombe Sound's most recent outing, we invited
>> 'very small businesses' -- the sole traders, crafters, mobile
>> hairdressers and beauticians, chimney sweeps etc, to come in for 5
>> minutes and talk about their businesses for free. We called it
>> "Enterprise Hour" and ran it once a week for four weeks. I thought
>> we would be inundated, but we weren't -- I think that type of slot
>> takes time to build -- but the listeners loved it because it roused
>> their interest. Again, we had lots of interest in advertising from
>> the business sector. In fact, we had to turn some away because we
>> couldn't give them an impact in the short time we had remaining.
>> I'm sure different strategies work for different stations. For me
>> though, the content comes first and that in turn will build audience
>> and revenue.
>> Pippa
>> 07973 710963
>> @curly_radio
>> @wycombesound
>> *From:*Alan Coote <mailto:alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk>
>> *Sent:*Monday, February 02, 2015 4:41 PM
>> *To:*'The Community Media Association Discussion List'
>> <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
>> *Subject:*Re: [cma-l] Community Radio Spot Rate
>> I had the same problem when running The Bay in Poole and Bournemouth.
>> Without a word of a lie, 3 different charities phoned one morning
>> asking for commercial airtime for free. I asked if they had any
>> budget for advertising their events, 2 said yes. But none thought
>> that we would charge!
>> Back to the spot rate... I don't know any station who can sell all
>> their inventory at full rate card, so rather than £80 a day think
>> just £20.
>> Here's another tail - At The Bay we doubled our published rates and
>> guess what, we attracted bigger and better clients. Yes there we're
>> fewer and I'm not suggesting that money was rolling in, it wasn't,
>> but it stopped us going broke. It also meant we were selling to
>> companies needing to raise awareness as much as generate leads -- an
>> important factor for small stations.
>> To add a bit of perspective, most local commercial stations won't get
>> out of bed to sell a package for less than £1000 at spots rates
>> around £4 upwards, it's just not worth their while. The minimum to
>> get on a Heart station is around £4500 and a regional is near double
>> that.
>> Commercial sales -- yes been there, it's difficult, but a rate of 23p
>> a spot is surely putting the station at risk?
>> Kind Regards
>> Alan
>> Hear Alan Every Week on Let's Talk Business The UK's Premier Radio
>> Programme For Current and Future Entrepreneurs - Now Broadcast To 5
>> Million People<http://www.letstalkbusinessonline.com/>
>> Email -alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk <mailto:alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk>
>> Phone - 0800 949 6655
>> Mobile - 07801 518858
>> Twitter - at TheAlanCoote <http://www.twitter.com/TheAlanCoote>
>> Web -http://www.5digital.co.uk <http://www.5digital.co.uk/>
>> Let's Talk Business
>> Twitter - at LTBShow <http://www.twitter.com/LTBShow>
>> Web -http://www.LetsTalkBusinessOnline.com
>> <http://www.letstalkbusinessonline.com/>
>> <image001.gif>
>> The Media Production, Broadcasting and Training Company
>> *From:*cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
>> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]*On
>> Behalf Of*Canalside's The Thread
>> *Sent:*02 February 2015 15:06
>> *To:*'The Community Media Association Discussion List'
>> *Subject:*Re: [cma-l] Community Radio Spot Rate
>> Mmm ?...............there's the old adage ''we're worth,
>> what we can get'' and no more.
>> It's a bit similar to going to a record fair, it depends which area
>> you go to. A vintage record on the circuit and going for around £75
>> quid, might only fetch £15 at a different venue.
>> Some areas are more wealthy than others ? is this Station operating
>> in an area of deprivation and less businesses per-head ?
>> It's a learning curve setting the rates .... What some consider cost
>> effective others may think too much we have a Package
>> 1 ... it cost's = £123.34p for the WHOLE YEAR I won't go into
>> what you get but certainly a pub or organisation that put events is
>> onto a winner as they get to use our events planner for free, they
>> get an advert popping up here and there and a logo on the website
>> ........one woman who runs a bar in Macclesfield told me that our
>> prices were wait for it ''extortionate'' !!! her words
>> not mine, and how could any business afford that sort of cost ??
>> ! I explained ''no no no'' ''there seems to be
>> a misunderstanding'' ''this isn't weekly or monthly, this is for
>> the whole year''
>> She said words to the effect of ''no chance''
>> The business does appear here and there but mainly in the areas where
>> they can FREE-LOAD. And there lies another problem .... Some people
>> seem to think that because we are Community Radio and we are
>> Voluntary led then everything for some bizarre reason is free ??
>> this Lady was of a similar opinion, and got quite uppity.
>> I informed her that I was coming to Town on the Friday with 6 of my
>> mates, and we were so enthused by the Bar that we were going to spend
>> the whole evening in there drinking ........... presuming of course
>> that all the Beer was free ??????
>> Even after being sarcastic, she simply didn't 'get it' ?? it
>> seems to be rife in our business doesn't it ? this '''not getting
>> it''' ?
>> Nick
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:*cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
>> <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]*On
>> Behalf Of*Alan Coote
>> *Sent:*02 February 2015 14:37
>> *To:*cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
>> <mailto:cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>;cma-l at commedia.org.uk
>> <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
>> *Subject:*[cma-l] Community Radio Spot Rate
>> Can your station survive if you charge 23p per spot?
>> I just had a 2 minute look around the web at community radio rate
>> cards and found a station (it shall remain nameless) which, even if
>> they sold their whole inventory 24x7, would make less than £80 per day.
>> The reality is more likely to be £20 per day income at that spot rate.
>> As far as I can tell the station isn't funded by a parent
>> organisation, they don't run a membership scheme and there's little
>> off air income either, so it's difficult to see how they could manage
>> their running costs.
>> Personally I think this is nuts and also devalues the medium. Come
>> on guys... know your worth.
>> Kind Regards
>> Alan
>> Alan Coote
>> Managing Director
>> 5 Digital Limited
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> <http://www.avast.com/>
>>
>>
>> This email is free from viruses and malware becauseavast! Antivirus
>> <http://www.avast.com/>protection is active.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Reply -cma-l at commedia.org.uk <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
>>
>> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the
>> Community Media Association -http://www.commedia.org.uk
>> <http://www.commedia.org.uk/>
>> Twitter:http://twitter.com/community_media
>> http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
>> Canstream Internet Radio & Video:http://www.canstream.co.uk/
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Mailing list
>> guidelines:http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please
>> visit:
>> http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Reply -cma-l at commedia.org.uk <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
>>
>> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the
>> Community Media Association -http://www.commedia.org.uk
>> <http://www.commedia.org.uk/>
>> Twitter:http://twitter.com/community_media
>> http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
>> Canstream Internet Radio & Video:http://www.canstream.co.uk/
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Mailing list
>> guidelines:http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please
>> visit:
>> http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk
>
> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
> http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
> Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
> _______________________________________________
>
> Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
> _______________________________________________
>
> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
> http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
--
Local Reports at http://www.ravensound.pilgrimsound.co.uk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20150203/0ac6df16/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 20547 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20150203/0ac6df16/attachment.jpe>
More information about the cma-l
mailing list