By now you’re probably familiar with the recently announced initiative from FOX that will reduce commercial content to just two minutes per hour by 2020. This comes as audiences are spending less time on network TV and more time on OTT (over the top) platforms like Amazon and Netflix. While in some cases younger demographics have opted away from traditional TV altogether, the greatest problem is the reduced time spent viewing on traditional TV, particularly among younger demo

Disney wants Fox…Now what? And… What consumers REALLY want from brands. And… Consumers are running away from advertising in droves. Plus, rants and raves about Netflix’s personalization not just of recommendations but even artwork images, James Franco’s terrific movie, The Disaster Artist, and more. It’s episode 76 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play butt

Is the NFL overexposed? And… The future of ad agencies may not be advertising at all. Plus, rants and raves about the REAL motivation between daylight savings time and Ikea’s “ingenious” pre-roll ad that wastes your time like a short movie. It’s episode 74 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by email, click here fo

Every broadcaster is on the hunt for non-traditional revenue, right? Everyone wants to leverage their amazing audience attention and focus that attention on money-making opportunities that go beyond spots. Well, here’s a groundbreaking opportunity for you to do just that. October. It’s the season of Halloween. It’s also the season where local haunted attractions and Halloween stores want to spend money on radio. If you’re located in proximity to the big parks, then it’s a big

Gordon Borrell has issued his latest report benchmarking local media’s digital revenues. Required reading for anyone in the local media business. Yesterday I published a transcript of Part 1 and the full video interview. Today, Part 2: Whereas the emphasis in the radio industry seems to be “let’s communicate the value of the Nielsen numbers, let’s make the Nielsen numbers as accurate as they can be,” you’re suggesting that there’s way too much dependence on Nielsen and the tr

Gordon Borrell has issued his latest report benchmarking local media’s digital revenues, and it’s another eye-opener. Here’s my full conversation with Gordon about this report, the consequences for the radio industry, and what radio can learn from it. Part 1 publishes today, Part 2 tomorrow. What’s the biggest way this report is different from your previous reports? I think after 15 years, basically, of doing these reports, you really either see a pattern or you’re stupid. An

So I’m reading a headline predicting a 4% decline in radio advertising over the next year and another 4% decline the year after. Meanwhile we are constantly reminded about clients pushing for lower rates or for tech-enabled solutions which risk commoditizing radio altogether. The solution? Well, remove ownership caps, of course. That way we can buy more stations, cut more people, and provide a greater fraction of less value for fewer clients with, at least, less competition.

What upfronts reveal about the TV business. And… Will there be a Netflix of Podcasts? Plus, rants and raves about the return of Biz Stone to Twitter and what happens when your date texts during a movie and the Justice System intercedes. It’s episode 64 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. This episode is brought to you by StackAdapt, an omnichannel digital advertising platform that helps brands accelerate customer acquisitio

Inside media’s data-driven future. And… Here’s how advertisers ignore data. Plus, rants and raves about overt messaging and suspension of disbelief, Disney’s new Star Wars Land, and how Suave fooled a bunch of beauty influencers into thinking it was luxury haircare – but how the joke may be on Suave. It’s episode 62 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. This episode is brought to you by StackAdapt,  an omnichannel digital adv

We had to produce some direct response ads for my podcast project (you’ve heard it, right?), but one of the would-be sponsors was a hard sell. You can find them advertising on many podcasts here and there (and maybe even on a certain televised annual sports event). But this kind of podcast doesn’t work for them, they argued. So they’ll steer clear. Our work-around solution: Create a spec spot that really illustrates the power of audio and moves the product and even has what a

Last week I told you about the new podcast I am producing for Wondery: Inside Psycho. This week I am proud to announce that Inside Psycho is now #1 on iTunes in the TV & Film category (#46 overall at this writing). It’s also featured by Apple as “New and Noteworthy,” which is a special privilege. Now, these are dynamic lists and rankings to be sure. Stuff changes. And iTunes rankings aren’t the whole story. But even so, with the zillions of podcasts in distribution every day

YouTube has announced that they will no longer support 30-second ads that viewers can’t skip, starting 2018. No more. Nada. Zip. Why? A YouTube spokesman said… We’re committed to providing a better ads experience for users online. As part of that, we’ve decided to stop supporting 30-second unskippable ads as of 2018 and focus instead on formats that work well for both users and advertisers. This change will not affect shorter ads – the 20-second videos and six-second bumpers

According to a new global media habits study from Kantar Millward Brown, if you think your audience hates advertising now, just wait. It is about to get a lot worse. The study spanned 39 countries and 23,907 interviews, including populations representing Gen X (35–49), Gen Y (20–34) and Gen Z (16–19). According to the report: It’s particularly tricky to get Gen Z to engage, because they are highly discriminating and more averse to advertising in general. In the online space G

Cue the panic in the radio streets. Facebook is moving into the audio space by making available a publishing tool called “Live Audio.” “Should you be worried?” asks Radio Ink (which should be in a position to answer that question rather than ask it). First, let’s acknowledge the utter inevitability of this announcement. Facebook’s job is to extract dollars from potential advertisers who value the platform’s virtually infinite and addressable audience and want to reach them in

Will ad-blocking save the advertising industry? And… The best marketer of the year? Your fans! Plus, rants and raves about the app that fixes your complexion so you don’t have to, the history of the Christmas tree, and how one business guru needs a dose of his own medicine. It’s episode 55 – the final chapter of the year – of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the p

We all know the folks in the print business are being squeezed by digital. At the New York Times total revenue fell 1% while Gannett Co. reported revenues down almost 9%. And remember, those declines take into account any growth in digital. But this note from MediaPost is particularly telling: It’s worth noting that [circulation] revenues now make up 59.7% of NYTCO’s total, up from 41.3% in the third quarter of 2010. The proportion derived from advertising has fallen from 51.

Andy Bowers is the Chief Content Officer of Panoply, a leading podcast network and an innovator in the space. In this Q&A from hivio 2016, the audio future festival, I talk with Andy about Panoply’s business model, how the company works with advertisers and brands, and the future of podcasting as a business. Among the questions Andy addresses: Describe Panoply For advertisers, Panoply is more about impact than scale. How is that distinction important and how does it work for

Dear advertisers: Our audience numbers are garbage! And… The road to Hell is paved with pageviews. Plus, rants and raves about the iPhone parody gadget which earned one startup 1.5 million visitors a day, the Brangelina wax figure divorce, and more. This is the episode to listen to if you’re a media brand perplexed that greater scale only drives down the value of your reach. It’s episode 51 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramse

If you’re trying to grow radio ad revenue (or ad revenue from any audio or video platform), you should watch this presentation from Veritone Media’s Ryan Steelberg.  It will change forever your sense of what you can sell and how you can sell it. Ryan was one of the speakers at hivio 2016. And if you’re trying to spread your content across platforms (and who isn’t?), this video is for you, too. Veritone Media’s big data solution ingests and indexes all of your content, and tha

So last week I penned a strong piece suggesting that the radio industry drop PPM. The argument was stimulated by the discovery that Nielsen households can contain up to 16 meters. For me, this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. The piece sparked a firestorm and almost a thousand Facebook shares, not because my points were so salient (although I hope they were) but because there does not seem to exist a single PPM subscriber who considers themselves satisfie