Lori Kaplan has been promoted to vice president, audience insights at NPR. 
“In this new role, Kaplan will lead the Audience Insights team in their efforts to learn more about NPR’s current audience, how to reach new audiences, and the ways NPR makes an impact on the public,” the organization said last week.
She joined NPR as a research analyst in the 1990s, rising most recently to a senior director position before this latest promotion. She has worked on various research initiatives that “have impacted all areas of NPR including content, marketing, sponsorship, development, the network, distribution, government relations, DEI, member partnership, and employee culture.”
The announcement was made by Chief Marketing Officer Michael Smith, who cited Kaplan’s “combination of deep institutional knowledge, next-generation audience fluency, and transformational leadership acumen.”
The press release listed examples of that that department does, including surveying member stations about NPR’s strategic planning process; an audience research panel for quick feedback from audience members; and pricing models that affect NPR’s financial relationship to member stations.
“Kaplan also launched the first program-level broadcast tool (Act1 Systems), which helped NPR compete in the sponsorship space on the same footing as commercial networks. The team also developed a wide portfolio of digital analytics dashboards across the array of platforms where NPR content can be found.”
