Dallas Mavricks owner Mark Cuban says bring back the live commercial so neither the viewer (nor the advertiser) will know what to expect until it happens. Calling them Reality Commercials, Cuban claims implementing such a thing would not be a technical challenge or a creative one but it would entail a whole lot more work. I don’t watch TV ads now but I just might watch a few if they were live. Could we make this work in our network newscasts? Doubtful. Our clients probably woudn’t like it. Our sales reps wouldn’t like it. Our anchors wouldn’t like it. But our listeners might. [via AdRants]
Tag Archives: advertising
Net ad spending to overtake radio in 2008
Zenith Optimedia Group has revised it’s global ad spending outlook and now predicts the Internet will overtake worldwide outdoor ad spending next year, and will catch up with radio (which will have a 7.9% share, down from 8.5% in 2005) in 2008.
If you’re a radio station manager, you a) do not believe this forecast for one minute; b) think it might be true but have no clue what to do about it; c) don’t care if it’s true or not because you plan to retire in a couple of years anyway. [Radio Business Report]
Got milk?
Sounds like SC and LA have lifted the black-out on the breakup: Lance used his satellite radio program to talk about the breakup, saying lots of nice things about his former love. And Sheryl was talking with Ellen DeGeneres. The 44-year-old rocker thanked fans for their support and noted that — despite the heartache — she is free and single again. “‘All my friends say I have to get right back on the bike,” Crow quipped, “‘and I keep saying, ‘Maybe not a bike.'”
Value of New Media vs. Old Media
Jeff Jarvis on the the Rockeboom ad auction:
And here we have in a microcosm the explanation of why media is so horribly out of sync today: The public is valuing new media much more than the old, but the advertisers still value the old. Most every newspaper and in many cases TV networks and magazines have much larger audiences online, but the revenue for their old media properties remains much higher because the advertisers and agencies still value the old and the safe. They want metrics. They want control. They want guarantees. This, in turn, makes big publishers and producers play it safe because they don’t want to mess with the cash cow. And that means that advertisers miss the opportunity to reach a larger, younger, smarter audience in the new medium, which is — supposedly — what they’re dying to do. And that means that big media companies now face competition from a thousand Rocketbooms and a million Gawkers.
And if you are in the media/advertising business and you’ve never heard of Rocketboom or Gawker… you’re probably already screwed. Tick, tock…tick, tock.
Selling radio spots online
Broadcast sales execs are still upbeat about the future. Sort of. From an informal Banc of America Securities survey of 46 GSMs and other sales execs at the recent Radio Advertising Bureau meeting:
- Nearly one-quarter of respondents indicate that they already use online services . . . to sell available airtime,and another 30% plan to use such services in the future.
- The new worry is the iPod and the Internet radio, not satellite radio. 26% think Internet radio is a bigger threat than satellite radio. That’s up from 10% of respondents a year ago.
From Billboard Radio Monitor [via RAIN]
BASF gets it
Remember when your insurance agent would send you a calendar for Christmas? The tech-savey marketing folks at BASF sent a few of our reporters 4 gig iPod nanos.
You spend the entire year listening to the needs of your audience. So for all of your attentive support, we would like to present a holiday gift that will enable you to hear our heartfelt appreciation. (Don’t worry – this gift doesn’t involve us caroling on your doorstep.) Since BASF is a leader in crop protection technology, we thought it would be appropriate to give you the latest advance in audio technology: the iPod nano.
It’s important to know that this gift extends beyound its small dimensions. You will have already received an email from us with a recorded holiday greeting. Now go to www.AgMediaCentral.com to hear the second part of our message, which you can listen to online or download to your new iPod.
This link also includes a few questions that will help us to listen to your needs. When you visit this link, you’ll receive an additional gift with our appreciation: a prepaid iTunes Music Card worth $15.
S&P: Bumpy road for media companies
According to this Business Week story, Standard & Poor’s sees a bumpy road ahead for media companies:
S&P expects radio advertising to grow only in the low-single-digit percentages in 2006. Radio ad demand is under pressure from competing media such as the iPod and satellite radio, as well as from excess commercial loads. … Even with lethargic revenue growth, radio broadcasters generate significant free cash flow.
S&P expects that online ad growth in 2006 will exceed 20%, reflecting the continued strength of both search and brand advertising. Marketers appear to be gaining confidence in the Internet’s ability to reach consumers. For example, Yahoo! indicated that its brand-marketing revenue from the top 200 U.S. brand advertisers grew more than 45% in second-quarter 2005, and Ford Motor has allocated about 15% of its marketing budget to online initiatives. Furthermore, some marketers have begun to incorporate search advertising as part of their overall branding campaigns, which could spur more online-ad spending.
Even assuming that growth decelerates somewhat, Internet advertising is likely to exceed magazine advertising in 2006. Spending on Internet ads could potentially surpass spending on radio in 2008, assuming 1% to 2% growth in radio ad spending and a minimal contribution from satellite radio.
Hmmm.
Napoleon Dynamite for the Utah State Fair
Marketing genius is getting Napoleon Dynamite (and Pedro) to be spokesmen for the Utah State Fair. You can check out Napoleon’s Sweet Ads here and I’ve saved one here (AUDIO) for posterity. Don’t you just know the out-takes on these were sweet!
thirtiesandsixties.com
I own a few domains that I’m not using. Squatting, if you will. I keep renewing BasementDiaries.com in hopes that I’ll eventually get around to moving that site to it’s own space. I just registered thirtiesandsixties.com. An idea that occurred to me while swilling beer with Scott earlier this evening. We were talking about radio and advertising and the big-chested blond at the bar and I went off on a riff about how someday the notion of little 30 and 60 second chuncks of advertising would seem quaint. More to the point, how our business (radio networks) is dependent on the concept of “thirties and sixties.” We’ll sell you “x” 30’s (or 60’s) between 6a and 7pm for “x” dollars. We sell “units.”
A blog about advertising or radio or networks could do worse than thirtiesandsixties.com. We’ll have more on that, right after this from our sponsor.
Why broadcasters are not cashing in online
Gordon Borrell on why broadcasters are not taking advantage of online advertising opportunities (from TVSpy):
“The big problem however, is the web is not a broadcast medium. In most cases we are not talking about a $1 million or even a $100,000 contract for advertising. We are only looking at several thousand dollars per contract. Broadcast sales people don’t have the time or interest to focus on those types of deals. The current compensation structure and incentives also don’t motivate broadcasters to focus on web advertising.”