Radio Headlines November 6

Best of the Day – Jacobs Blog has perspective Inside Music Media has questions … everyone else has CBS earnings report

Radio-info (255,191 Monthly Visits says Compete.com) – Leads with “October Good for Sports” and indications that October PPM reports are lighting up the scoreboards.  Some lighter stuff on an antenna BASE jumper that lived to see another day and possible power hikes coming for HD radio.  Read more …

All Access (92,023 Monthly Visits) – Leads CBS Radio rev$ fall 19% but CEO Moonves says each quarter getting better and many reasons for 2010 optimism.  Follows with Fernando & Greg taking mornings at KMVQ. Read more …

RBR (29,457) – Leads with CBS earning information and the positive outlook from company officials.  Follows up with committee events for  the PRA legislation proposals.  [So much money, so many lobbyists, so little incentive to stop the fighting while fees get paid.]  Read more …

Radio Ink (14,294) – Leads with CBS earnings.  Follows with Salem Communications earnings … sales revenue down 10% to $49 million, operating expenses down 20%, free cash flow down only 2%.     Read more …

Inside Radio (11,821)  – Leads with CBS earnings and adds perspective that radio managers might be expected to deliver higher 2010 sales revenue budgets. Second item behind the pay wall, Regent CEO suggests any radio recovery will not be even across the board.   Read more …

Inside Music Media (Unknown) – Asks radio leaders to take their eyes off the balance sheet for a few minutes and look to the future.  Broadcast radio’s biggest competition is in your pocket and it has more tech support then the annual radio sales revenues.  Ring ring … are you ready to answer.  Read more …

Jacobs Media Blog (1,188) … “Radio Radio” has more cum reach than the internet.  77% versus 64%.  TV dominates and the death watch continues for newspapers and magazines.   Adds, sure radio is a leaky bucket, and (audience) options are growing.   But, with content creation, personality development and digital tools, radio has a great deal of life and vitality.   Read more …

Is it time to make your radio website dynamic, interactive, and talk worthy? CELLit Media has answers.

RADIO NEWS WEBSITE TRAFFIC up 44% in February

February, 2009, online radio news site traffic was up  44% over last year.  The top 10 radio news sites we summarize from www.compete.com public information had 253,009 unique site visitors, making an average of 3.8 visits/month, clicking 4-pages each visit, and spending 3:12 on average time online. 

A link to the full summary is avaiable at the end of this post and includes www.Radio-info.com www.RadioandRecords.com www.allaccess.com  www.rbr.com www.radioink.com www.RAB.com  www.hear2.com www.Kurthanson.com (RAIN) www.insideradio.com and www.NAB.com

Radio teams know the web brings the fastest, most relevant, and well presented news about the radio industry. 

It’s interesting the most active sites have the most interactive tools.  Message boards, research, multi-media, and tagging/commenting/sharing social tools are found in the leader’s websites.

www.Radio-info.com and www.radioandrecords.com account for 70% of the top-10 time spent online.  Read the details in the free PDF.  No registration required.

Radio teams would do well to look at their own station websites and incorporate interactive/multimedia  tools they appreciate when they read their industry news.  

 

Radio News Website Share of Time Online Feb 2009

FREE PDF DOCUMENT: radio-news-sites-february-2009

Local Interactive Ad Spending to Equal Radio Advertising

Check out a new research study by Borrell Associates indicating local interactive ad spending to reach $14-billion this year.   They also have a neat market calculator to see what’s in your home town.  

Local Interactive Ad Spending

As radio advertising continues to fall the two businesses might be equal in size within two years … both about $16 Billion per year.

Here’s the good news.   Radio stations can use their broadcast reach to build new revenue streams in local interactive ad spending.  Most radio stations haven’t touched interactive advertising yet.  The missed opportunity is a radio station with 500,000 listeners might only have 25,000 web visitors.  Radio stations can change that and grow revenue.  

If you need help with dynamic content then contact CELLit.  We are ready to help.  Need more information?  Check out this Wall Street Journal article.  If you don’t get going soon then the local TV stations and newspaper will beat you to this revenue.

Local Media Rules except when you are not personal

#1 in a series of 4

 

 

Rule #1 – Follow the consumer they will always lead you to the money.

Rule #2 – When in doubt follow the better clients because they are following the consumer.

Rule #3 – When in trouble follow a winning competitor they are ahead of you.

 

Rules #4 – If you are following last quarter or last year then you are in trouble. See Rule #1.

 

$150-billion in audited advertising and the new wisdom says “Local Media” is the next big thing.

So, why are local newspapers and local radio stations not doing so well? It’s not about traditional local geography like a city paper, or a town radio station. It is now about Personal and Local. You can be nationally delivered but if you are personal and local then it works. You only have to look at YouTube and MySpace to see national and personal work.

Local media can find success by getting personal. The tools are available to engage your audience. Supporting industries have invested Billion$ in broadband networks, wireless data services, and consumers have purchased Billion$ in personal computer equipment and powerful cell phones. You can build your cross-platform audience faster and better than the limited niche appeal of general websites. You can grow. You can restore you business vitality. You have the powerful broadcasting tools that no website can ever duplicate.

At Cell-it Hosted Media Services we can help. You can engage your audience in a powerful and personal way using their cell phone camera and your current media platform. Find out more here and at our live demonstration site or contact Randy Peterson or Steve Poley. We can get you started easily, quickly, and in time to be a new force in your digital market.

Local Media Rules except when you are one-way your-way

#2 in a series of 4

 

 

Rule #1 – Follow the consumer they will always lead you to the money.

Rule #2 – When in doubt follow the better clients because they are following the consumer.

Rule #3 – When in trouble follow a winning competitor they are ahead of you.

 

Rules #4 – If you are following last quarter or last year then you are in trouble. See Rule #1.

Nike now has an online build your own shoe program (http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid_home.jsp). Budweiser just started Bud.TV. Coca-Cola has online music (http://www.weboptimiser.com/search_engine_marketing_news/1826739.html).

What are you doing online? You have the audience. You have the broadcast. You have their attention. What are you doing to build your non-spot, digital efforts?

At Cell-it Hosted Media Services we can help. You can engage your audience in a powerful and personal way using their cell phone camera and your current media platform. Find out more here and at our live demonstration site or contact Randy Peterson or Steve Poley. We can get you started easily, quickly, and in time to be a new force in your digital market.

Local Media Rules except when you are last year’s local media

#3 in a series of 4

 

 

Rule #1 – Follow the consumer they will always lead you to the money.

Rule #2 – When in doubt follow the better clients because they are following the consumer.

Rule #3 – When in trouble follow a winning competitor they are ahead of you.

 

Rules #4 – If you are following last quarter or last year then you are in trouble. See Rule #1.

 

We all have revenue targets and budget projections to manage. Just delivering last year is hard and to get better seems impossible. There are organizations delivering growth. So, learn and compete.

Newspapers with business vitality have surging digital platforms. Interestingly, the more digital programs the better the general market performance. Imagine that cross platform effect really works!

Local Cable Franchises are building out their cross platform products. Even the local Comcast and Time Warner sales forces are stepping up their cross platform digital efforts. http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/what-will-comcast-do/

Other radio broadcasting organizations have major digital programs underway. CBS Radio works to bring content to all websites. (WSJ-Online paid subscription … Can CBS put Net in the Network? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117910437825901533.html?mod=djemTMB . Clear Channel launched a 12-city new “MySpace” like social program. (See “Can Clear Channel Clone MySpace?” http://www.antimusic.com/dayinrock/07/may/01/13.shtml )

At Cell-it Hosted Media Services we can help. You can engage your audience in a powerful and personal way using their cell phone camera and your current media platform. Find out more here and at our live demonstration site or contact Randy Peterson or Steve Poley. We can get you started easily, quickly, and in time to be a new force in your digital market.

Local Media Rules except when it is traditional local media

#4 in a series of 4

 

 

Rule #1 – Follow the consumer they will always lead you to the money.

Rule #2 – When in doubt follow the better clients because they are following the consumer.

Rule #3 – When in trouble follow a winning competitor they are ahead of you.

 

Rules #4 – If you are following last quarter or last year then you are in trouble. See Rule #1.

 

Last year 2006, the entire radio industry just managed to hold advertising revenue even. A strong 4^th quarter with election spending and a big holiday season made the year. No election spending this year unless early Primary spending come in the 4th quarter. Competition from satellite, new HD program lines, iPods, and the constant IM streams on data cell phones and Blackberries are all taking the audience’s attention. Then there is the growing out-of-home Wi-Fi access cutting into listener time.

Non-spot revenue gains are showing real promise. They are still small. Every leadership team has to make a strong show here because general revenues are so weak.

A perfect answer would be a new non-spot program with added revenue that helps rebuild the listener base. It should build on the listener’s interest and take advantage of new computer connections and mobile devices now in their hands.

At Cell-it Hosted Media Services we can help. You can engage your audience in a powerful and personal way using their cell phone camera and your current media platform. Find out more here and at our live demonstration site or contact Randy Peterson or Steve Poley. We can get you started easily, quickly, and in time to be a new force in your digital market.

Non-Spot Radio Revenue Projections

Radio Advertising Bureau estimates for 2006 revenue have been out for 10-weeks. Here’s a Media Post summary and I’ve added included the table here.

 
No revelation that total radio revenue is up just 1%.  The entire industry vitality comes from Non-Spot programs.  Non-Spot grew 10% or $138-million to $1,522-million.   A moment about total audited advertising … all $150-billion.  TV holding.  Newspapers, radio and outdoor holding at best.  The internet is has just passed radio in total ad revenue growing 34% last year.  See discussion here .    

What can we learn?  Advertising vitality is video and internet.  “Non-Spot” is the radio industry vitality.  Internet programs deliver total advertising industry momentum.    Radio “Non-Spot” is small at 7% of the industry revenue but if current trends continue “Non-Spot” will be more important than Network spots and could grow 50% over the next 4-years.      

User-generated video for radio web sites could be a powerful tool to take advantage of growing Non-Spot revenue.   Cell-it offers a fully hosted program that comes to life on your web site in just one-afternoon.   How do your revenue projections look?

Managers, Leaders, Board Games, and Opportunity

Managers count mistakes as unbudgeted losses and worse …  capital write offs.  Leaders recognize mistakes as missed opportunities.   IBM may have lost money building personal computers but did they lose more not understand the opportunity Microsoft became.  Microsoft lost money building the xBox but did they lose more missing the opportunity Google became.

Today media companies buy and sell properties to gain efficiency.  While they move properties around like hotels on a board game, the opportunity shifts to powerful new organizations like YouTube and MySpace. 

How can media companies with their incredible reach and massive audiences miss developing their internet properties?  Advertising clients have exciting, powerful, and image building option.  Funding  for old media support is shifting to new media vehicles.  No client will be thought less of for experimenting with new internet programs.  Maybe they will even be rewarded for leading the change. 

Old line media properties still have the audience and they have the opportunity build a bigger new media organization.  Technology is easy to buy.  The audience has clearly shown they want interactivity, they like 24/7, and they want to participate.  If shown the way and most of programs are easily purchased then why don’t media companies change?  It’s a good question.  Why couldn’t IBM see the value of Windows?  Why couldn’t Microsoft see Google coming?  Why can’t media companies see their audience changing?

Media websites need to be more than brochures for concert schedules and contact lists.  Involve your audience, listen to them, allow them to participate and they will be yours for a long time.   Keep broadcasting a one-way message and the ether-net may overcome you.     

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Cell-it offers hosted media services for radio, television, and newspaper websites.  You can engage your audience to put down that iPod and pick up their cell phone.  They will participate with pictures and video.  Their voices will be heard.  They will help you build powerful new community features.  The technology is available and can be working for you in as little as one afternoon at less than the cost of an airplane ticket.  Time to fly.