Is advertising on Fort Myers radio just a day job for Southwest Florida small business owners?
Thousands of local Florida companies depend on radio advertising to market their goods and services. But most of these business owners choose to buy commercials only between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm. Is this a good idea? Maybe not. Here are the facts.
During the course of last week, for instance, 807,219 adult consumers tuned-in to their favorite Fort Myers radio stations. This is significantly higher than the number that tuned-in to a local TV station, read a local newspaper, or logged on to Spotify and Pandora.
But radio listeners do not roll-up their ears just because the sunsets. According to Nielsen, almost half of SWFL who listen to the radio during daylight hours, also tune in at night.
To put this in perspective, more people listen to Fort Myers radio at night than listen to satellite radio, Pandora, and Spotify combined.
Unlike the way the moon affects the tide, it has no effect on the quality of who listens to Fort Myers radio stations at night.
In terms of the most sought after socio-economic characteristics that many business owners desire, nighttime radio listeners and daytime listeners are very similar. Of note, the audience after dark consists of a noticeably higher percentage of white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, and people who are employed full-time than the daytime audience.
There is an extraordinary value for Southwest Florida small business owners to advertise on the radio after dark.
The cost of radio advertising, like most goods and services, is driven, in part, by demand. Because most business owners choose to place their commercials during the day, the prices are driven higher, sometimes out of the reach of budget-conscious business owners.
At nighttime, however, the price to advertise is usually much lower, sometime as much as 65% less. That means a business owner can reach 50% of the daytime audience for 65% of the cost.
Investment bankers would call this arbitrage, the making of money by exploiting an imbalance in pricing. We call it good business sense.
