Listen! Do you want to know a secret about Loadshedding?

Listen! Do you want to know a secret. Do you promise not to tell. Closer. Let me whisper in your ear.

I’ve known the secret for a week or two. Nobody knows, just we two.

If you started singing the words to the Beatles tune before you were half way through reading the opening lines, then you don’t need any convincing about the power of sound to create a lasting impression.

Sonic branding is a primary catalyst for stimulating brand recognition and recall, not just on radio, but across all media platforms.

But what happens to radio listenership when we’re being Eskomized?

When it comes to load-shedding BTV (Broadcast TV) and BVOD (Broadcast Video on Demand) are most at risk. Regular BRC_TAMS panel updates confirm that time spent viewing is dramatically down year on year. Average weekly viewing time 2023 YTD is down -28% over 2019 and -15% over 2022.

Of course this isn’t all due to loadshedding because the BRC TAMS panel doesn’t measure and report streaming viewing activity.

But radio is not impacted to the same degree as TV. If anything, there is a growing body of evidence, both anecdotal and fact-based, confirming that during loadshedding “listening behaviour” actually increases.

Nine out of every ten content viewers (all forms of TV) listen to radio every week. But very few (5%) listen to radio, or other audio platforms, while they are watching video or TV content (Nielsen: Fusion 22). So when Eskom drops the curtain on TV viewing, more and more it seems that the default behavioural response to loadshedding is to find something to listen to. A recent study of the impact of loadshedding on listenership, conducted by OFM, confirms that 22% of respondents (n=1026) have actually increased listening behaviour during loadshedding.

And it’s not just about switching listening devices from a “radio set” to a smartphone which is capable of streaming live content. Listening patterns are evolving and other LOD (Listening on Demand) options, like curated station rebroadcasts and podcasts, are increasingly looking like the big winners during Eskom’s winter of discontent.

When it comes to TV viewing, getting off the grid by using expensive solar panels or  generators might liberate some homes at the top end of the market – but all it requires to continue listening to radio is data, or access to WiFi. An affordable point of entry UPS device generating no more than 4 watts of energy.

Not to mention the fact that 37% of all radio listening occurs outside the home. One out of every four radio listeners listens to radio in a motor vehicle and of course in-car listenership is not impacted by load shedding. Bottom line is that if you’re advertising on radio in drive-time there’s no change in audience. The Sentech radio towers are “critical infrastructure” and the audio show must go on.

Have car will travel. Have signal will listen.

So if you’re are a TV advertiser then it’s worth doubling down on your investment in radio advertising by planning additional exposure outside of the traditional drive-time peaks, into under-delivering prime-time TV viewing channels. These channels outside drive-time have always been the most cost-efficient buy on radio, but additional listeners from the TV load-shedding diaspora make them a very attractive effective buy.

When it comes to load shedding you most certainly have to mind the gap on TV coverage. But the best way to mind the TV coverage gap is to fill it with sonic branding.

The Power of Sound. Maybe not such a secret after all.