Tag Archives: Early Net Culture

Media Study: Radio Makes People Happy

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That’s one of the findings in a new study by the Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab. Harris International surveyed more than 2,500 people between the ages of 18 and 54 in June and July. (MediaWeek)

Less Annoying“Fifty-five percent of respondents said radio was the medium most likely to improve their mood compared to the other three media studied. The findings were generally true across all ages, genders, and ethnic groups, but especially strong for African-Americans and Hispanics.”

“Advertising on radio was also found to be less annoying than on other media. Comparing Internet ads to radio ads, 45 percent of respondents said radio ads are “repeated too often,” compared to 53 percent who said the same about Internet ads; 24 percent said radio ads “appear at inconvenient moments,” while 60 percent said the same of Internet advertising.”

The simple truth is most radio stations just have too many commercials. And too many of those commercials have no relevance for me. Yes, I understand that they ALL have relevance for someone… but in an iPod world, that truth is no longer relevant. I have to stop now, I’m out of italics. [Thanks, Chuck]

WSJ: “How to get attention in a New-Media World”

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Wall Street JournalThat’s the headline on a story in today’s Wall Street Journal. I won’t bother posting any of the many nuggets in this piece. You can read them yourself. And if you spend anytime online, you know a lot of this already.

Here’s what I want to know: How can any intelligent, semi-educated, reasonably well informed, man or woman entrusted with running a business (or some division or department of that business) not have at least heard about the things referenced in this story (blogs, podcasts, RSS, etc etc)?

We talk to people every day that insist (and I belive them) they’ve never even heard the terms. I don’t expect the average Joe (or Joanne) to be as into this “new media” (someday we won’t need the quotation marks) as I am… and I know that not everyone has access to the Internet. But if you own a TV set, a radio, read a newspaper or a magazine… how could you not have seen or heard one or two of the countless stories about “new media” during the last couple of years?

* I just read the local sports scores in The Daily Bugle
* I only watch Wheel of Fortune and QVC on TV
* I haven’t seen anything in People Magazine about all this stuff
* Cousin Bob on Country 108.7 would tell me if any of this stuff was important

What do you know? I answered my own question.

Let me stress that I’m not saying your business should be using any of the new media tools (you should)… but I remain mystified that there are people who have not a glimmer that something is happening.

NAB Radio Show: The Newspaper of the Future

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Scott Brandon’s latest dispatch from the NAB Radio Show (“How to Make Your Station Website the Newspaper of the Future”):

“We begin with internet problems. Not a good sign. Wish I had my camera. Feels like a college lecture hall. The session is led by Paul Coates from Branson. Roger Utnehmer (DoorCountyDailyNews.com) was scheduled to present but had to drop out due to illness.

Really, this thing was all about why to do it (revenue opportunities, audience movement) nothing much about how to do it. More “ain’t this neat” than anything else. Toward the end people started to push him for logistic info. At some point, Coates lost control and the herd took over. Lots of independent conversations and random questions being thrown out and answers coming from the gallery.

Some notes:

  • Traditional newspaper is continuing to decline. That means there is an opportunity to grab those non-traditional readers.
  • Radio can drive people to the web and make money. If newspaper drives you to web, they lose your traditional sub rev.
  • Your website has to supply news not history.
  • You already have news and sports departments.
  • You can charge premium price. Print buyers used to spending lots. Too low and it doesn’t seem worth it.
  • Sky is limit on content.
  • [More internet problems. Everyone in the crowd has advice.]
  • Fresh content is needed everyday and early in the morning. By 5:30 or 6:00.
  • His unique visitors have leveled out but his per-day visits have gone up. On average, each person visits 3 times a day. Guess what? They update the news 3 times a day.
  • “Show-me more” feature on Roger’s site allows sponsors to put up a video of their biz or offerings.
  • Hometowndailynews.com is working on adding a feature to their “area dining” section that will allow you to do on-line orders to your favorite restaurant.
  • Your site should have different name than station. Must be a full stand alone feel. Otherwise, people feel they are just spending more money/time on your station.
  • Did not hire new staff. Shuffle duties of existing staff.
  • Now we’re into legal stuff. Is it legal to link to google? Sigh.
  • Mistakes he made: 1) Have more patience; 2) Sell it to your staff first; 3) Crawl, walk, run”

Podcasting, broadcasting, advertising

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Excellent interview at AdAge.com with Leo Laporte. Leo is the man behind TWiT (This Week in Technology), one of the most popular podcasts (monthly reach of 500,000). Which is why the podcast has attracted Dell, T-Mobile and Visa as advertisers. According to the AdAge piece, Laporte’s podcast mini-empire could rake in as much as $2 million dollars in a year, but he says he’s more concerned about how to not ruin the medium with advertising. Excerpts:

“…all podcasters agree that podcasting has more value than radio or almost everything and we deserve a high cost per thousands [of listeners] and are going to create an environment that’s worth it for advertisers. We don’t want to jam it for advertisers. And the audience will let you know — they’re not passive. It’s more of a conversation than a monologue. … We need to hold the line and really deliver quality advertising. It’s going to be hard at first, [podcasters will have to be] turning down advertisers, running fewer ads than you’d like, not take in as much money as you’d like. But if we can focus on delivering something of value we can make both advertisers and listeners happy.”

When asked if he thinks podcasts from mainstream media companies will exercise enough restraint in the advertising:

“I hope they screw it up. I see them as using podcasts to drive to their bread and butter. We’re narrowcasters and they’re broadcasters and there’s a big difference. “Ask a Ninja” wants to be “Seinfeld” but people like me and most I know are narrowcasters. We want to super-serve an audience and develop a relationship. [Broadcasters] see themselves as delivering a lot of people to advertisers and inefficiently. But those days are drying up. There will always be the Tides and Coca-Colas who can afford that but most companies in this modern world need to be efficient and they can be by using these new technologies.”

I have no doubt MSM companies (like ours) can produce quality podcasts. And, given our built-in promotional opportunities, we should be able to attract listeners. Will we “screw it up” when it comes to the advertising model? Don’t know. To be continued.