Analytics, Metrics and Music for the Radio Industry
Advertising and Indie Artists for Radio
Radio Industry ROI Strategy
How the internet affects radio advertising and music airplay.
Internet Radio: Pick Artists, Make Stars
Where the radio industry has a long list of unknown names before airplay started, internet radio - to my knowledge - can't report so much as a single talent that rose to stardom based on exposure through internet radio stations.
Dear Radio Persons: No, No, No, & No!
Tying the response of an ad campaign back to the cash register, as is being done with a growing number of media, is what the radio industry must do.
Today's Radio News You Need to Know
Radio needs to get on this train before it pulls out of the station, or it will realize a lower portion of total ad spend over the next few years.
Radio Industry Purpose: To Generate Response
From all major players (Google, MSN, and Yahoo!, and an assortment of aggregate networks) come an advertising tool box that makes Arbitron ratings and Scarborough look like a third grade math book.
What you'll derive from this data may cause a stop-and-think moment. There appears to be a trend taking shape; a drop in Time Spent Listening is shared by nearly all.
HD Radio Research - Only Words on a Page
It's time the radio industry pushes HD Radio over a cliff, and gives attention to what's considered important by CONSUMERS - better content, on mobile devices.
Holding onto the Past Doesn't Prevent Tomorrow
The seismic shift of "how" audiences are entertained, "how" advertisers are reaching targeted groups, "how" consumers are researching and purchasing is blindly passing anyone who wants to hold onto radio's past.
Some Innovation in Radio Would Be Nice
Innovation is new, never before tried, something that makes the person on its receiving end go "that's different!" When is the last time you picked up a radio industry trade and read a story making those words fall out of your mouth?
Let's Talk About What's Really Important
Fact is, whether you are in the radio industry or not, what this video shows is how we've lost control of our online options in a dangerous way.
Welcome to the Future of Radio
My premise is that it's time for the radio industry to do away with those bloated, unappealing items called web sites.
Radio Online Rankings Ready for Review
Triton Digital released its "November Internet Audio Top 20 Rankers." Download an Audio Graphics prepared copy that's complete with charts...
Radio Industry Losing Local Luster
We cannot go back to the glory days of radio. However, we can restructure programming and commercials to accommodate audience and advertiser needs of the day.
Demands on Radio Industry to Increase in 2012
Lose the notion that new media is "the competition," and believe that it is a stepping stone to higher profits when properly used.
SOPA: Introduction to a Very Bad Bill
The "Stop Online Piracy Act" is one of those proposed laws with little common good, but it has a lot of plus for its few supporters.
Online Radio Listener Survey 54 Results
Today we have the results from our 54th survey. It shows online spending for holiday gifts is now common (as are the amounts spent)...
How "Granular" Do You Want to Go?
Where we once used a megaphone, we all, radio industry included, now have an ability to communicate one-to-one, on a granular level.
Massive Confusion Coming in 2012
The grand experiment of using people within radio to guide it into the online world has, time and again, proven frustrating and futile.
Music Distribution has Changed - Good or Bad?
...please consider that technology has provided tools to circumvent a broken, decades-old, music distribution system. New artists may use this to their advantage.
Pulling the Plug on Traditional Communications
Drop cable TV? Are you crazy? Stop listening to radio? What's that you're smoking? Cancel the newspaper delivery? Oh, did that in 2005!
Complacency towards honoring today's date by a vast majority of Americans shows few people care.
Is this sleight of hand, magic, an extremely competent person, OR just the cutting of personnel to a point where nothing is done well?
Flat Gift Buying From Online Radio Listeners
While we read of an increase in online holiday spending, I'll float the concept that this "increase" comes from a higher number of people online and not more online people turning to the internet for purchasing gifts.
Still Misguided After All These Years
How can someone so grossly misunderstand how consumers use TuneIn, and what it means for radio?
The Solution for Everyone, Being Found
As we look at music distribution, you may rightly say that there is too much content making its way to too many stations...
Now is when the radio industry NEEDS to be focusing on understanding and practicing digital revenue.
Radio - Getting Back on the Path
The radio industry needs to put more creative production directors to work - as in the number of production directors and the degree of originality they bring to radio.
Do You Know What Your FB Page Just Said?
Today the radio industry is one of words, said and written.
Taking Advantage of Digital Dollars
Digital dollars are growing for a reason. Clients see an upside to advertising online, while the audience is further along the learning curve that makes digital intuitive.
Saving Money the Radio Industry Way
I'm all for profit. Where folks like John Hogan and I disagree is in how much revenue should end up as "profit," and what measures should be taken to achieve a profit target.
Radio Industry Rankers - From Webcast Metrics®
Download our free report; you'll not only see, numerically, where the reporting stations/networks sit, but also graphics to lay out the Average Active Sessions, Session Starts, and Average Time Spent Listening for each station/group.
Measuring Social: Most Difficult, Most Important
The radio industry is flying by the seat of its pants at Facebook, on Twitter, at Google+, etc. In this case, nobody is asking the big question: What do we find when we measure social media impact?
Not Your Father's Music Publicity & Distribution
Now it's up to indie artists and the online radio industry to start talking.
For Artists & Advertisers: Radio's New Reach
What if radio had created the couponing craze, or was first on the "texting" bandwagon a decade ago?
Email - Still Important, Still Embraced
If a broadcast signal is used with that "tool" called the internet, then the radio industry carries a distinct advantage.
Survey Results, ranking breakouts, and free radio programs highlight this Audio Graphics Update!
iHeartRadio - First Step on a Long Journey
The web site works. It's clean, and does not confuse with too much choice. That's what "leads" the masses through a site.
All the Numbers From Webcast Metrics®
The radio industry is now moving into a time when online radio listening can no longer be ignored.
Following Trends, Even When They're Negative
We can no longer afford to simply talk about how the radio industry is involved with technology, while ignoring what's being accepted by a quickly-growing group of consumers.
Internet Radio Listeners and Email
For the radio industry, with its power to gather opt-in email addresses, installing a routine for sending emails to the audience should be in every radio executive's plan.
Social Media, Radio, and Recognition
In today's AdAge article titled "What's the most social of all media?" - they left out "radio."
Make no mistake, a reason we see a flight of advertising dollars to new media has nothing to do with "scale." It's the growing desire from advertisers to see response metrics.
Before anyone gets ahead of themselves with proclamations that the radio industry is ready to duel in this new age of new media, radio needs to get the full grasp of a single element within.
Indie Artists: The Production Does Matter
Luck, money and hype may shift a little crap for a short time but it takes quality and substance to have a real sustained success at any level.
Stepping into a Daily Deal Quagmire
The radio industry has plenty of opportunity to benefit from the masses moving into digital. Couponing is not one of those opportunities.
Speaking With Stats Instead of Statements
How many online visits does your radio station receive? What type of positioning statements do you use to inform your audience of your station's rank in the real world? Do you even look at the stats (facts) prior to creating these claims
Getting Your Song Played on Radio
This is the largest problem that any musician or band needs to circumvent. How do you make sure your song(s) fit in the "time" a programmer has to listen?
Getting the Most From an Email Campaign
Radio has the means to gather names through a call-to-action on-air, by registration for elements on its web sites, and through contesting using social media. If used, radio's reach and frequency will guarantee list growth.
Jamcloud, Soundcloud, Google Music, Facebook Music, Jelli, Turntable.fm, Rolling.fm - that's a frontal assault on the music radio industry that should not be waived with a simple "others have tried to kill radio and failed."
Radio? We Don't Need No Stinking Radio.
Add the growth in online talk radio stations to the explosion in internet music discovery services, and you can see why there should be concern for anyone who makes their living in the radio industry.
Desperation or Popularity: Buying Friends
In the end, does the action of "Friending" when that action is to gain something (such as a contest entry) hold value?
Does Social Media Pay Radio Dividends?
Are metrics pulled to tell you if the time spent posting is delivering anything more than an ability to say that you're on Facebook and Twitter?
Internet Radio - A No Hit Wonder
Being a "hit" means convincing more people than yourself that you are worth their time.
In Response - Thank You. I Know. But...
I receive many emails from people who support what's written at Audio Graphics, but they can't put their names in the comment section below each story. I respect that. They have to keep food on the table. I also receive an occasional rebuttal, which I'm happy to print. Then, there are the comments that say "wait, we do this and this..."
There's More Than One Way to Say "Radio"
The degree of ignorance about digital delivery is immense, so I thought a deeper dig into what broadcasters are up against is in order.
Radio Industry's Angst Starting to Show
In nearly every story printed about Pandora in radio industry trades, we see the same modus operandi of discrediting the power of Pandora.
More of the Same With Online Radio Rankings
The biggest item to discuss is the normal summertime drop in audience, which happens across the internet.
Clear Channel Admits Pandora IS Radio
I heard this in a promo on a few CC stations (paraphrased because I suffered shock at the words): "iHeartradio - custom radio just like Pandora."
Radio: Moving Online and Missing a Trend
...why don't we see more radio stations employing the power of a survey with more stations now moving online?
For advertisers, I do see an ability for Spotify to target ads as precisely as Pandora and many other online-only "radio" networks.
Radio, Radio, Where for Art Thou Radio?
New blood that offers a new approach will be the radio industry's only savior, but you're not going to see that anytime soon. The old-timers will make sure of that by not giving up, or giving in.
For advertisers, I do see an ability for Spotify to target ads as precisely as Pandora and many other online-only "radio" networks.
Radio Industry Online Report Breakouts
The spreadsheet also includes "Active Sessions," "Session Starts," and "Time Spent Listening" for each of the top rankers - showing how they've done since April 2010.
Finding Radio Industry Amid the New Music
People do not wait for their local radio station to introduce them to new music as if this were the 1980s.
If we look at how smartphone use to access radio stations is growing by the day, we see weekends continue to outpace all other days of the week.
Answering Radio Industry Comments on PI
We are in a day when the advertiser is looking for measurable results, not an emotional response that says "we ran your radio campaign and drove traffic to your store."
Pricing Radio Industry Per Inquiry Rates
Because PI ad buyers operate under a thought that they deserve unlimited impressions, what we mostly see with PI advertising is templated copy for different radio station formats.
Radio: Moving Emotion Moves Product
Connecting emotionally is essential. That's why most radio commercials fail today; they don't connect emotionally with the audience.
Careful What You Read in Radio Trades
Keep abreast of how the internet affects radio because, regardless of what is printed in many of radio's trades, the audience is changing the way it consumes audio content.
Thank you Lord, for all I have...
for the love of my wife and my child.
Independent Internet Radio a Tough Sell
There are just too many station owners who are not willing to do the work that makes the buying process efficient for everyone involved.
Name Calling Getting in the Way of Radio
Please, quit this cheap shot approach. Get back to what an intellectual conversation contains - facts, delivered in a style that dispenses with the low blows.
Radio's Online Success Not Simply Streaming
...radio does not take advantage of analytics and metrics to deliver results and guide actions.
FCC News Report - the Radio Section
It doesn't matter what radio industry executives claim, it's what the public - and reports like this - perceive.
The Radio Industry and Email Lists
What type of emails do you send? Does the content waste your time when creating it, and the recipient's time when it's opened?
A Muffled Megaphone for Radio Industry
Even if we are generous in giving a 10% rate to those persons who actually take action once arriving at the web site, that's still just 63 people.
Getting the Visual Right for Listening
The other day I visited, then abandoned, five radio station web sites because I could not easily locate their "listen" buttons on my smartphone.
Internet Radio Listener Survey Results
The radio industry can make a place for itself online, but it's going to take learning what pureplay operators, advertisers, and your audience already know.
The radio industry needs to seriously consider what it is offering the public today. It can no longer afford to talk about what radio is "going to do."
Radio Industry Quandry, Knowing Its RPWSV
The radio industry is at a crossroads which will end up defining its future relevancy.
Join Me on the WordCloud and Learn
These graphics display how a search engine sees these web sites, not how these web sites want the search engine to see them.
The time has come to stop defending the radio industry's missteps and start producing the type of emergency response that was present prior to consolidation.
Looking at How We Look at Numbers
There's no way to write an article on all that you need to know to integrate new media. You can't even write a single book about this topic. But we can start slow, perhaps, with a little "Ad Tracking 101."
Playing Radio Industry Catch-up
For the mid-30 and early 40-year-old manager, it has to be frustrating. It's a "what do I do now?" moment, especially since the radio industry management system morphed into centralized control.
..."radio" is anything which transmits an audio signal as its main draw. The quality and/or source of content usually doesn't matter. A listener is spending time there to "hear" product.
Take a tip from Susan Wojcicki, who proclaims Google is "always thinking about what the perfect ad is."
A Connection Between Kent State and Radio
The connection between Kent State's place in history and where radio sits now is this: In both cases, those in control couldn't conceive that dissidents have any chance of being right.
Indie Artists' Road Leads to IR
Setting talk radio aside, each music-based online station operates in much the same way: play songs, short ID, more songs, short ID, PSA (commercial?), more songs... repeat.
Where and When of Online Radio Audience
Triton Digital's February "Webcast Metrics®" have been released. These now carry accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), which gives the package more punch.
An Open Letter to Jeff Smulyan
I know of you because today you are one of a handful of people who control the destiny of our radio industry.
Facebook, Twitter, Radio, Response
At the heart of tracking, keep tabs on what you say.
Radio Industry - Foolish or Wise?
There's real opportunity for the radio industry, if it leads a charge to offer what audience and advertisers are looking for.
When the Radio Industry Takes Action...
Words don't work anymore. There's a long record of initiatives getting press on launch, then going nowhere.
Those losers at Google just don't get it. They constantly come up with "failed" projects like trying to aggregate newspaper ad sales, or radio industry advertising sales, in a way that nobody's tried before.
The Death of HD Radio - Round 2
HD Radio is as comatose today as when this article was written in October 2007. To prove the point, the chart below shows if the listed radio stations mention HD Radio on their web sites; it has been updated, and indicates little change between then and now.
Radio: To Be Found Or Not To Be Found
...in fact, no commercial group's list of radio stations is anywhere to be found.
It's not a stretch to say that most articles discussing radio and the internet do so in technical or legal terms. We seldom read words about content.
Infinite Dial Report Worth Your Time
What I offered above is a nudge to say smartphones, iPads, and a host of other internet-based delivery systems are on the horizon - and the radio industry only has a few more years to respond.
Radio Ads - Online Growth Flatlined
Is there anything within an audio commercial that is keeping this medium from being used/valued more?
Radio Industry Revenue Hurdle Identified
Radio could have drawn many millions more in revenue had the industry moved early to become the community on-ramp to online advertising. The opporunity was there.
Complexities of a Simple Email Campaign
How do you use that moment of contact when, say, an opt-in listener gives you the privilege of emailing them? What happens in that coup de grâce moment when they open your email?
Does Geography Matter When Radio is All Music?
A person who likes country music now has a choice of hundreds of stations if they use a radio industry portal, thousands if they look on search engines.
NPR Defunding Should Worry Radio Industry
This saber-rattling against NPR has done nothing more than give it a green light to become much more aggressive.
PRA for Radio Brings Parity in Payments
Radio should use itself as the vehicle artists can come to, sign a waiver, and then be off building their careers.
Radio Listening on Mobile Devices
To help those who are strategizing within the radio industry, here is how weekend internet radio listening has grown at RadioRow since I began tracking it in April 2009.
No "Radio" in Online Search for Radio
If a station does chase national audience online it must employ the power of search engines.
Running After the Last "Best" Idea
Electing to try and "tame" the internet beast by using radio's rules was proven a bad way to go when stations jumped onboard the Mark Cuban Broadcast.com.
Chagrin Falls, OH as a Lesson for Radio Industry
At any given time, anyplace can become local to millions, as Chagrin Falls Ohio has done a few times now.
Pandora Measured Against Radio Industry
Within Pandora, the number of people reached doesn't matter as strongly as how much data the company has on each.
How to Find Radio Station Web Sites
Now is the time to determine if drawing traffic from mere on-air mentions is enough to feed the radio industry's new interactive beast.
Internet Radio Playing More Indie Music
What we've accomplished is to hand internet radio a free source of music, while giving the independent artist community a one-step process of getting airplay on dozens of radio stations.
I do agree with Ms. Garber on this: "Let's keep the perception and perspective straight."
Don't Go Myopic With Pandora IPO
If this is truly news to you, it's way too late to do anything besides see how the lay of the land changes under your feet - unless you're willing to hire qualified people to help.
Internet Radio Audience "Survey 51" Results
Concerning use of mobile relative to a year ago, people 25-44 had almost a mirrored image of response to that of the 45+ crowd.
Diluting "Local" and Dismissing "New"
Despite what many in radio believe, a huge chasm exists between what is known about digital by radio execs and what they need to know to compete with companies that grew up in this space.
Struble's Trouble Also Radio's
The online radio industry has been built on a thought that the majority of its audience is there Monday through Friday, listening while at work. As the above shows, people don't just listen at work.
Announcing: New Radio Industry Pricing Term
Here are facts: You have a radio station. You have a web site. The two are perfectly suited for a local merchant to use in drawing attention, then explaining their offer in detail.
Musicians and the Path to Radio Airplay
There's no better pairing than that of new artists and radio stations. Each feeds the other's needs; at least, that's the way it was until a wrench was thrown into the works.
For those radio station owners who control what they present online, here are 5 elements to consider. These items can get you rejected by a radio web site visitor.
Adding "Different" to Your Radio Stream
It's time to get serious about being different - and to begin adding items to your stream that help it stand out from thousands more competitors than your broadcast signal has ever faced.
Who is Not as Important as How
Because what's being offered by technology in media isn't covered in a college course, you need to self-educate to remain relevant.
Paradox of Ted Williams Voice and Radio
I'd like to discuss a point about the radio industry that is not being brought up: The days of the big-voiced announcer are over.
Fred Jacobs to Radio Industry: 4G LTE OMG
That was the overriding message at CES, and even though radio folks were very scarce, and radio gadgets of any kind were essentially MIA (excepting the iBiquity folks), it’s a message that the radio industry needs to hear loud and clear.
How do you compete with enthusiastic amateurs when they don't give two hoots about business approaches?
Homeless DJ Saga Has Lesson for Radio
Pipes aren't something given to only one person. Desperation isn't a rare commodity these days, either. Right place, right time. Life isn't always fair. Yada, yada, yada...
The Functional Online Radio Station
A question to be answered in 2011 is this: Why must your radio station have a web site if a single page will do?
Good Data Forces Quality Questions
How many panels will be devoted to audience response in campaigns when executives gather for next year's RAB/NAB get-together?
Radio Executive's Move Benefits Children
Mr. Harrison's effort should be acknowledged before he leaves his Clear Channel position.
Radio, Content, and Being Found
We're at a point where a huge number of radio outlets, providing mostly the playing of songs and little more, only succeed at fragmenting the audience into larger numbers of smaller groups.
Performance Royalty Just Another Hurdle
The PRA is a radio industry hurdle, as are thousands of new online competitors, the digital dashboard, local search, and a plethora of music discovered a few keystrokes away.
We've long left the time where a local band could get its music on a local station, or be mentioned by a voice-tracked announcer.
This is the second dispatch about the shooting that was sent to our newsroom's teletype machine that night.
Which Ads Ignored? Yesterday's Question
Banner ads (the ad-unit taking the most heat on this issue) have been easily ignored since their creation. The larger they became, the wider a consumer's "ignore-this" field of vision grew.
Audio Content or Radio Program
The radio program as we've known it is dead. Long live good audio content.
What is Your Claim to Fame (Selling Point)?
Have you spent time creating a sentence that describes your internet radio station, or time analyzing how your radio web site is functioning (through analytics)?
New Artists Get Internet Radio Airplay
"Intro to Indie Artists" changes the way new acts get their songs played on internet radio stations.
Radio Revenue Rise is Time for Capital Investment
However small the revenue increase is, the question now becomes, "What will the radio industry do with the cash?"
There's no better analogy than Pittman to Disney. He is to a generation of radio veterans what the Mouse-maker is to everyone else.
If Radio Loses Local, Its Competition is Global
Few internet stations can speak to a limited terrain. There just aren't enough listeners coming from a small geographic area to make it economically viable. Streams come from around the world...
Exciting or Anxious Times? Depends on View
Broadcast radio hasn't changed much since consolidation ended, but everything around it has.
Measuring Local Interest in Radio Advertising
Local businesses are trying to learn how they can best use the internet for advertising and promotion.
Christmas Music Symptomatic of Radio Mediocrity
Playing Christmas music is simple, and inexpensive - but it is also symptomatic of a deeper illness - being average and mediocre.
Is Radio Included in "Media's Troubles"?
When the masses adopt "new" on a scale that has the rest of us wondering what is going on, it could be time to question our knowledge of current needs.
Different View on Radio's Royalty Payments
In reviewing the logic used in this proposal, I think of the first TV dinner exec who used an aluminum tray in their new microwave oven. They saw the future, quickly.
Radio Industry's Competition Not Just Pandora
Understand that Pandora only represents one company out of hundreds that are vying for radio's audio-based audience.
Social Network Importance to Radio Industry
Most radio industry executives make decisions about creating a Facebook page without knowing if the effort will draw results, or to what degree manpower must be committed for success.
Radio, TV, "Trust" Ratings Rise
The area showing a substantial gain for traditional media came in the question "Considering sources of information available to you, which one of these do you trust the most?"
