In December 2013, Neilsen reported that, “The average American consumes almost 60 hours of content each week across TV, radio, online and mobile.” Broken down, they found that the average American each week spent:

· 35.1 hours on television

· 14 hours on AM/FM radio

· 5.1 hours on the Internet on a computer

· 1.5 hours of video on the Internet

· 1.5 hours on a game console

· 1.3 hours of vide0 on a mobile device

· 1.3 hours with DVD/Blu-Ray

The age ranges that use radio, according to the study, were:

· 19% 45-54 year olds

· 17.4% 25-34 year olds

· 17.4% 35-44 year olds

· 17% 65+ year olds

· 16.4% 55-64 year olds

· 12.8% 18-24 year olds

The study also noted that 31.6% of listeners were college graduates, compared to 23.1% for television, 30.3% for online.

What does that mean for your marketing? You should ask your boarders which stations they listen to (or see what they tune the radio in the barn to each day). Then talk to a sales rep at a few of those stations and see if you can do an inexpensive test to see if the station works in your area for your services.

For example, if you are looking for new boarders, run a test advertisement on a station to see if you get good results from the type of people you are looking to fill your stalls. Keep in mind that there probably will be different local stations you should use to get women who are into dressage versus men who have roping horses versus young women who ride hunter/jumpers. And there will be different prime times for those listeners.

You can download a free copy of the Nielsen A Look Across Media: The Cross-Platform Report Q3 2013 here.