 |
|
|
News From Audio Graphics:
|
Answering a Radio Industry Google Audio Skeptic |
Publisher's note: There is no person who writes about the radio industry to whom I give higher respect than Jerry Del Calliano.
What follows is in answer to his column Google Radio "AdNonsense," found at Inside Music Media™.
Jerry:
There are a couple of points to make about your Google "AdNonsense"
article; then a few comments.
Before starting, let me get a disclaimer out of the way (while
you know this, readers may not):
I am VP of Marketing for Spacial Audio Solutions, a leading maker of a variety
of software for thousands of broadcasters and internet stations worldwide.
Spacial provides the backbone for Bid4Spots online radio advertising auctions.
You are off base with an assumption that auctioning radio spots
will turn the radio industry's product into a commodity. Radio spots have been a commodity for a very long time. Here's why...
|
It started when the radio industry shifted from selling solutions for advertisers' problems to
selling the holes in programming (called avails). Through consolidation, ad inventory rose.
Ineffective copy, poor production, and failure to tell a client that their ad is not
of good enough quality for airing all contributed to this because it drove demand down.
It's no secret.
|
If radio fails to make the move to online ad sales, then it will, again, be disregarding the desires
of clients - forcing them to accept what it offers instead of offering what the buyers want.
Media buyers are moving to accountable media. It's how they
justify their jobs. Buying in this new media world requires
knowledge on how it works. Selling in this arena is no different.
Unless you've been exposed to Google AdWords or the MSN and Yahoo!
equivalents, there's no way to understand the degree of detail that
a buyer can draw from the data supplied. It is huge, and we're learning
how to better use this data every day.
Google Audio AdWords incorporates many features that
Google AdWords has - so do the other online radio auctions. In a
few words: they all offer easy ordering, accountability, and
simple payment systems.
To think that media buyers, who are all becoming more tech savvy
in order to keep working, will continue to buy radio without
(at the very least) accountability is to stick your head in the sand.
The world is changing. Radio must adapt or risk further decline.
Having been involved with the introduction of traffic reports to
the radio industry, I've said this many times: there is no difference
between radio's resistance to everything internet and its initial
resistance to embracing traffic reports. In time, radio will turn
to auctions because that's where the buyers are going.
Yes, your fears about a reduction in sales staffs will come true.
The efficiencies and reporting abilities brought on by selling
radio inventory through auction will supercede any thoughts of
keeping bodies around because it's ethically right. The success of search engine
keyword ad buys shows that you can remove the human element from the ad selling process.
Online ad auctions will lower CPM; it's inevitable. That's why
more advertisers are gravitating towards them. But online radio ad auctions will also
bring many more advertisers to the table, just as traffic
reports have done. Over time, growing demand will push CPM up. Radio's dilemma concerns which way to go: fight
the auctions and lose the media buyers, or accept lower CPM
while establishing a far greater client pool.
Radio can resist, or join the transition. That's the only choice because this world is changing.
Until I became involved with all of the online ad buying programs,
you could call me skeptical. Now that I oversee a number of online
programs, I'm optimistic that others will change when they learn
what it's all about. For a synopsis of programs offered, go here.
The problem is that people are drawing conclusions based on what they think online radio ad auctions represent.
At this time they should be learning, not guessing, whether they are correct.
Ken Dardis
|
|
Comments may be published.
|
|
From: Kyle B.
Great article. I think whats most important is that Google is removing obstacles for many advertisers who would not take the traditional paths of advertising on Radio but now at a minimum will be testing advertising in Radio within less restricted guidelines. |
|
 |
|
|
