Market for value-driven music and movies is still strong
Christian retailers must consider how best to appeal to wider community

“The digital revolution may not be as revolutionary as believed, according to a music survey that found listeners more in tune with friends’ tips and radio than blogs and social networking.”—Edna Gunderson, USA Today

Companies like The Barna Group, Nielsen and others track the things that make us tick, drive our passion and motivate us to perform one way or the other. They help us understand those we serve and those we seek to serve.

In The TRU Study 2012 of Christian Music Consumers, a division of TNS Custom Research, “Value Monitor” indicators rank the importance of Religion and Faith, the similarity of Worldview with our parents’ generation and Traditional values. All of these come out exceptionally high among Christian music consumers when compared to the country at large.

At the same time, the indicators also show we drastically undervalue the importance of clothes or products with a particular brand (equating specific brands with quality) and that we hold the value that “Success” means making a lot of money. The importance we place on happiness skyrockets on Religious and Spiritual Fulfillment and plummets compared to the general populace on “Partying” and having material things.

Commonly, our complaints align with others on daily life in regard to sleep, money and work. We chart highest on “not having enough time in the day” and “stress.” We are more likely to view our generation as “living in dangerous times” and less likely to view opportunity for the future and focus on goals against the populace as a whole.

For the under-30 crowd, the statistics show Christian music consumers foresee having kids as more likely than our peers and that they view themselves as less likely to get divorced, fired or to have multiple/many romantic relationships.

When we look for specific behavioral activity that affects the Christian industry and those we serve, NPD Group’s recent Contemporary Christian Music Executive Summary is enlightening. Of specific note, out of the estimated 15.5 million Contemporary Christian music fans, the highest degree of separation in TV viewing habits when compared with our non-believing neighbors is watching Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and the Gospel Music Channel (GMC). Yet even the Christian community seems to follow the trends of our society and gravitates to Country (GAC) and family/kid-friendly cable networks such as Disney XD, ABC Family, Boomerang and Nick at Nite. Interestingly, Full House (ABC) is our highest-indexing show followed by What Not to Wear (TLC).

You may ask, “So, what does that mean to our industry, our channel and your customers?” What it tells me is that the entertainment category in our industry is increasingly important for stores to consider. Not only does it mean we need to continue to support core Christian artists and programs, but we need to recognize that society trends and demands—even among the church crowd—are looking for wholesome forms of entertainment in music and movies. We as an industry need to recognize this, embrace it and perhaps grow the relevance of our retail footprint in the communities we seek to serve.

The NPD study further reveals that customer’s magazine consumption indexes highest ministry favorites like Focus on the Family and Guideposts. In addition and not so surprisingly, Southern Living ranks high with our market. Our online habits trend comparative to users as a whole on the staples of Facebook, Bing, Google and eBay, while top indices for Christian consumers against the general populace is for Christian content found at Biblegateway.com, Christianbook.com and GodTube.com.

More than 50% of us communicate connect with friends, post messages and post photos through social networking sites. We play and sing with a band, write music and lyrics, and play musical instruments other than guitar more likely than others. We like to make records and videos as a hobby. We love to meet in book clubs. And, obviously, we like to go to church.

From The Barna Group we learn that radio still ranks highest for music discovery, followed by friend and relative recommendations. For product purchases, radio has double the impact of social media, while a pastor’s recommendation trumps them all.

Why is all of this so important in the Christian products industry? Because we need to understand exactly who our customers are, what makes them tick and what they value most. What will drive them into our stores to buy our products? You see, folks, our consumption of music and video in physical format is above trends in the general market, according to Nielsen’s comprehensive consumer survey, Music 360. Ergo, our customers still find physical Christian product a value.

Christian music fans skew toward females over 25. The majority of Christian music listeners live in the South in a four-plus member household with an average income of $45,000-$74,000. While the female buyer prefers Adult Contemporary/Pop, Males purchase Rock most often. Live music events are most attended by 18-34 year olds followed by the 45-and-older crowd. Teens up to age 54 are mostly likely to purchase T-shirts at a concert while 55 and up will purchase CDs/DVDs.

These are the people who are consumers of the products we create and sell. These are the hungry—looking for spiritual truth through many forms of entertainment. These are the sons and daughters of our Creator who are looking to raise their families and enjoy for themselves Christ-centered alternatives to what the world is offering. Like the study shows, they desire wholesome products from many providers and look for it in many areas.

The Christian products industry has always been and hopefully always will be a true source of solid products for adults and children alike. Our customers will have purchased 7 million units of music titles through the Christian retail channel as of press time, and we will see upwards of 6 million units of DVD/Home Entertainment.

Consider these statistics from some of our industry’s best-known brands and new releases making an impact this year:

• Courageous has led the charge with more than 500,000 units across the counter in its first four months and is well on its way to a million in sales.
• Our friends Bob & Larry and the VeggieTales release of Robin Good will scan more than 100,000 units this year.
• October Baby has made a big impact in the lives of our most defenseless, and sales continue to climb in only its first few weeks in retail.
• We have welcomed new, traffic-driving music releases from top-sellers Wow Hits 2012, TobyMac, Third Day, Kari Jobe, Mercy Me and Francesca Battistelli.

You see, we still serve members of a community that looks very much like our neighbors, yet has a worldview that draws them to the content of your store. We have traffic-drawing releases that are ripe for your customers and are exactly what they want—from a shop ethos based on values just like their own. So, don’t lose heart as technology innovations change seemingly at the blink of an eye. Know your customer and serve them! And, remember, as Mark Twain so eloquently stated upon hearing that his obituary had been published in the mainstream media: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

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