I don’t think anyone is saying that social media numbers show that the ratings numbers are inaccurate. The Daily Mail has most likely missed Em’s point.
Ratings measure who is listening during a particular time slot - 6 and 9am in this case. Their purpose is to tell advertisers which station is best to get the most people in their target demographic. The method used is somewhat outdated and isn’t 100% accurate, but it still gives a good indication and probably advantages all AM stations and disadvantages all FM stations.
However, in today’s media landscape, not everyone is listening at the same time. People listen to podcasts and engage on social media. This is separate to terrestrial listening, but is not irrelevant. It is an opportunity to offer more to advertisers.
Good social media engagement is also an indication that a show is doing something right. The beauty of social media is that people can interact with multiple shows at essentially the same time. People can like and follow both Kyle and Em’s shows.
Whereas on terrestrial, you can only listen to one station at a time. People have to change and as we know, it’s very hard to get people to change their radio dial.
Low ratings are still a concern, but good social media engagement is something to be happy about.
High engagement is also what advertisers look for - it’s what makes people hear and remember their ads. A lower rating station with good engagement could be a better option than a higher rating station with low engagement.
I completely agree, but more was responding to the idea that the survey must be inaccurate because of social media engagement. Hopefully the Daily Mail has messed up the context, though she said something similar when she hit out at Kyle didn’t she…?
She’s only taking 2 days off and the headlines make it sound like she’s about to quit altogether. I think it’s pretty disrespectful to be honest. No other talent gets similar headlines when they take a couple of days sick leave.
In all honesty Em could have taken sick leave and this would have gone unnoticed but she was brave enough to try and get some publicity for an issue that few people talk about. Many people keep quiet about miscarriages. Thanks Em.
Fair enough. I apologise. On first read through, it sounded like you were saying she was trying to get publicity fot herself. I agree she is brave for highlighting an issue that is difficult for many people to talk about.
No worries. I want to add something more on this topic.
Part of the problem we have in society is that many women / couples do not announce their pregnancy until 12 weeks. This is so people can have “some privacy in case of a loss” (this is the explanation for delaying the announcement on many websites). It’s like a miscarriage is something that should be kept a “secret”. Women / couples often have to grieve in silence. Many hundreds of thousands go through this experience without any or very little support.
Em’s decision to be so open about this topic is what is needed for a cultural shift to occur.
Being a Melbournian, I’ve never actually heard this Em show before. I literally just listened to it for 2 minutes and couldn’t stand it any more because of the canned laughter in the background…