Creating your own podcast: A big waste of time? And… NBC/Universal cuts primetime ads by 20% – should you? Plus, rants and raves about Tuxe – the fashion company that has turned its products into services – and Ring’s impressive acquisition by Amazon after being rejected by the Shark Tank crew. It’s episode 80 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 be

If you haven’t checked out Inside the Exorcist, now’s the time. The series is in the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (as of this writing). And it’s a solid #1 in the Movie/TV category. And it has been getting some glowing reviews, including this one from the movie/TV industry publication Indiewire: So listen here and subscribe. And please take a few moments to give the series a rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you consume your podcast content. As you know, these efforts help sur

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

Millennials say “out with blogs, in with podcasts!” And… Is TV doomed – thanks to ad blockers? Plus, rants and raves about “lit-bait,” the 4-year-old with the most-viewed YouTube channel in the world, and the final word on whether or not removing naked ladies was a smart move for Playboy magazine. It’s episode 50 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

What the amazing success of Pokemon Go means for YOUR media brand. And… Amazon wants you to PAY for Podcasts. It’s episode 46 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about the virtual Cheetos museum and how much food gets trashed just because it’s “ugly”, and what happens when a celebrity with a popular social media identity forgets to edit a sponsored post. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly

Recently Radio Ink asked whether podcasting was “the secret weapon” to attract younger listeners. That was based on reports from NPR (echoed by NPR’s Anya Grundmann at hivio recently) that, thanks in large part to on-demand content and digital distribution, “We’re seeing some very encouraging signs that younger people are coming into NPR that previously haven’t listened.” But the conclusion that this is all thanks to podcasting is wrong. In fact, the way to attract younger li

Some interesting new podcast usage stats, as reported in eMarketer: Research from Bridge Ratings looked at the abandoment [sic] rates of podcasts among US listeners. A quarter of US podcast listeners abandoned podcasts that ran 45 to 60 minutes, though a lower 15% of respondents abandoned podcasts longer than 1 hour. Shorter podcasts had significantly lower abandonment rates. For example, just 5% of listeners abandoned podcasts that were less than 5 minutes long. I’d like to

I knew this would happen. And I’m not surprised that it’s originating from podcast networks rather than radio broadcasters. I’m talking about the newest trend in podcasting: Turning brands into podcasters (part of a larger trend I have been talking about for years: Brands as media). I have long argued that radio broadcasters – the experts in audio – are well-positioned to create audio content for their clients and help those clients distribute that content on-demand. Or – as

Podcasting is helping millions of listeners fall in love with audio all over again. That’s from the perspective of someone who has been at the center of radio, digital, and now podcasting. Mike Agovino is Executive Vice Chairman of PodcastOne and former COO of Triton Digital – two firms at the core of the new age of digital audio. In this conversation from hivio, the audio future festival, Mark Ramsey talks with Agovino about the amazing impact of podcasting for advertisers a

What’s in store for Spotify now that we’re living in a post-Apple Music world? That’s what I discussed with Brian Benedik, Spotify’s North American VP for Advertising and Sponsorships at hivio 2015. Some of the questions Brian addresses: In its news releases Spotify seems to refer to “audio shows” rather than “podcasts.” Why? Spotify has added entertainment, news, and video clips to its wealth of music. What have you learned about consumer interest in these additions? How hav

Interruption marketing is bad. Right? People hate ’em – those ads that stop you from enjoying the content you love – blah! But wait, if this type of advertising is so bad – so hated, then how come there’s more of it now than ever? There are more spots on TV than ever. In 2009, for example, cable networks averaged 14 minutes and 27 seconds per hour. Last year, the average was 15 minutes and 38 seconds. Meanwhile there are more spots on radio than ever. There are more spots on

Despite the rise in podcast usage there are still a ton of people who don’t know what podcasts are and couldn’t care less. Why? This week in our twice-monthly podcast Media Unplugged, Tom Asacker and I discussed (among other things) how it could be that Seinfeld, an almost twenty-year-old TV show that has been re-run umpteen times, could be worth $90 million in streaming rights fees. $90 million?! So what does that have to do with the growing pains of podcasting? A lot, I thi

In a November survey by Morgan Stanley (released this week and reported in Quartz), more than 2,000 American adults were asked what audio platforms they used. Their answers: Now this question is roughly analogous to what broadcasters would call “reach.” It does not really address frequency of usage or “time spent listening.” Radio tops the list with 86% of respondents saying it’s part of their usage routine. That’s by far the highest number (although not as high as Nielsen wa

It’s not all about advertising, folks. Whether you’re a podcaster, a broadcaster, or something in between, how can you extract revenue from your biggest fans, the folks who most want to give you money because they love you? That’s the question I put to David Plotz, the Editor in Chief of Slate.com and a host of one of my very favorite podcasts, the Slate Political Gabfest. Slate is launching a new initiative called Slate Plus with lots of lessons to teach. We talked about tha

Want to hear some great ideas on the future of radio and the role of what we sometimes call “podcasting” in it? Then watch this video. It’s the New Media Show from Geek News Central with Todd Cochrane and Rob Greenlee, and I am their featured guest this week. We cover a TON of ground in this conversation, including… How should Apple’s iTunes Radio and Podcast app evolve? Why radio should consider podcasters to be their “farm team” A strategy for radio to monetize the most pop

[A longer version of this post appeared in NetNewsCheck] “Podcasting” is the term describing the creation and consumption of on-demand video and especially audio. It was the “next big thing” – about six or seven years ago. And today? Not so much. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of podcasting going on out there. It doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people making and listening to them. It doesn’t mean podcasting lacks a place in our media portfolio. But podcasting is most

At least that’s what they say. We can be led astray by this, of course, because we can prove almost any point when we go to consumers and ask them “what if we also gave you this?” They will almost always say “yes.” This is true of new features to our products and new choices in our portfolios. We say we want a zillion choices then become so paralyzed by these choices that we very often opt out of the decision to choose altogether in favor of something simpler and more familia

It’s the idea that you’re already familiar with the concept of the movie, thus the studios don’t need to waste those precious marketing resources making you familiar with the concept. Even before you see it, you know enough about it to know you really want to see it. It’s why so many of our cinematic tentpoles are followed by roman numerals, and why international territories in particular (the source of 70% of Hollywood’s revenues) are eating them up. In television, CSI spawn

One of radio’s great opportunities is to get our communal heads and hands around the form and manner in which we post audio online.  Yes, I’m talking about the dreaded podcasts, people! If you’re a radio broadcaster then chances are you have a section of your website devoted to show podcasts (assuming you have a show worthy enough to warrant on-demand listening). Some stations refer to that page as an audio “archive.”  I refer to it as an audio dungeon.  Because only someone

A friend in Public Radio reached out to me the other day. He was looking for talent. Fresh talent. For a major broadcast client who wanted some original voices that speak to a younger demographic than the one Public Radio (and News/Talk) is most famous for. And I got to thinking…. How many times have I been asked for new “spoken word” talent by commercial broadcasters? Zero. This fellow realizes what most of my commercial peers do not:  The new talent is all around us but rar