Insights From A Competitive Review

What could you learn by studying your direct competitor? Consider taking a day off the air and listening intently to your main competitor with your program director, producer, and others whose opinions you value. Where are they strong, where are they weak? How could you do something compelling that they are not doing?

COMPETITIVE REVIEW CHECKLIST

Do more often: Measure if your direct competitor is hitting the positives below more often than your show.
Killer content (engaging stories, comedy, friendly conflict, drama)
Relevant content (the target audience cares about this subject)
A clear point of view from each cast member (emotion, opinion, inner thoughts, personal stories.)
Identifiable HD characters (how many of their cast are generic hosts vs. real people?)
Fast setups – segments start within .08 seconds without the traditional preamble
At the end of content segments, tease the upcoming segment
# Songs per hour
Laughs (audible, genuine laughter from the cast)
Laughs (laughter from you as a listener)
Interaction in features and newscasts
Audio clips
Local content
Interactive topics and contests
Even content distribution throughout ¼ hour, hour and the show (mix of songs, content, information)
Recycle A/Power content
Mic balance among cast members

Do less often: Measure if they drive away the audience more/less often than your show.
Commercials per hour
Self-absorbed, inside content
Generic announcers, inauthentic hosts
Predictable content with all the features/benchmarks airing at fixed times
All prep sheet content, no original/innovative content
Caller # 9-style contests with little or no entertainment value
Number of minutes traffic reports run (More listeners are getting info from apps)
Generic information (Content could be delivered by any show)
Talk segments over five minutes in length
Negativity
You can add/subtract specifics to this list as you see fit – especially if you have market research that indicates (for example) that local news is essential to your audience (do more of) and entertainment news is not relevant (do less of).

Afterward, break down both your programming and your competitors with a SWOT analysis:

STRENGTHS: (Significant advantage over a competitor)
WEAKNESSES: (Significant advantage over a competitor)
OPPORTUNITIES: (Areas that could be improved)
THREATS: (Areas susceptible to attack. Example: Too-long traffic reports, too few songs, content not relevant to target audience, etc.)

Then, write out your team's Action Plan: Outline your show's overall strategy and plan of attack in a paragraph. How will you highlight your strengths? How will you attack the competitor's weakness? How will you emphasize the differences between imaging and marketing?