You’ve probably heard that ‘figures don’t lie, but liars sure can figure’.

Whenever I’m reviewing figures or ‘research’, I always look first at the source.

With all due respect, research from any source has its built-in biases. Research conducted by RAB, for example, will have a pro-radio slant, while research from The Association of Magazine Media will show magazines in a favorable light.

So, when I see figures from eMarketer, the biased digital marketing and media research firm, that says consumers spend less than half their media time with digital media and slightly over half of their media time with traditional media, they’ve got my attention.

Wow!  Despite all the noise about digital, traditional media still rock!

But here is what the eMarketer report doesn’t tell you. Digital, be it mobile or laptop, is a www, worldwide web, media. As of October 2017, the time spent with digital media consumption is apportioned over 1.24 billion websites, 2.8 billion social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and more, plus emails, YouTube, Skype and more.

So, let’s look at my admittedly radio-biased ‘research’. Radio is not a www media…it’s local. While there might be dozens of stations in a market, most people are only exposed to two or three stations each week. So, while ‘www dot digital’ might be great for worldwide marketers like Ford Motor Company or McDonalds, it’s far too fragmented for local businesses to use effectively.

And radio’s two or three favorite stations also stand out in a 350 channel TV universe.

Of course, it’s a must that local businesses have their own web and social media sites. But their reactive digital media traffic, reacting to a need, must be driven by proactive local radio, creating a pre-need/pre-search awareness and preference for their business.

Click here to arrange an online overview of how our local TOMA (Top-of-Mind awareness) Research and SoundADvice Radio e-Marketing System can persuade local businesses to use more radio and TV in their media mix.