Everyone’s abuzz about podcasting! Well, kind of. Maybe not everyone. You’ve probably seen the 2016 stats: According to Edison, 21% of Americans ages 12 and up have listened to a podcast in the past month. That’s followed by this spin on trends: “That is up from 17% in 2015. Monthly podcast listenership has increased 75% since 2013.” Everyone deserves a high-five, right? Those numbers are huge! But wait a minute. I think folks in the audio space are missing the bigger story:

I love “future of radio” discussions, even though the premise of the phrase is completely wrong. Radio people care about “the future of radio” – listeners don’t. Indifference to what listeners really care about is why Clear Channel didn’t acquire Pandora when it was bargain-priced. It’s why there are many podcasts that sound like radio shows and enjoy radio-sized audiences but have never played on a radio station. The issue isn’t about the “future of radio” per se, but rather

During this week of Thanksgiving (and in the spirit of giving thanks), I wanted to share with you one of the most important conversations from the 2016 hivio audio future festival. If you’re a radio broadcaster, this will change the way you view contesting forever. Ryan Cummins is the Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Omaze, a cause marketplace that raises money and awareness for charity by offering the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Many of my clients know I’m a huge fan o

Every high profile brand and personality must now think of themselves as digital brands, but how? Chris Balfe has the answer. He’s a Partner at Red Seat Ventures. Red Seat partners with high profile individuals and brands to build unique digital businesses. Initial clients include Premiere Networks and motion picture producer Blumhouse. Prior to founding Red Seat, Balfe was President & COO of Mercury Radio Arts as well as CEO of TheBlaze. TheBlaze pioneered a brand new direct

The evolution of the car dashboard: It’s all some folks in radio want to talk about. Understandably, since such a large fraction of radio listening happens while driving. But isn’t it just the nature of disruption to change the conversation all at once? And that’s what happened today with the news that consumers wanting Android Auto no longer need to wait to buy a compatible car to use the platform. Now the platform is coming to them!Look out #radio: #android #auto is coming

If you’re waiting for a new music format – a knight in shining armor – to save your flagging ratings, then you will be waiting for the rest of your professional career. Because there never will be one ever again. What’s the next big new format? Radio has been asking that question forever. Most recently, the answer was Classic Hip Hop. Is it the next big thing? Maybe not (from Radio Ink): If you listened to Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins on his earnings call you might come to th

AT&T wants to buy Time Warner: The end of the world as we know it? And… Should Coke nix content marketing? Plus, rants and raves about the spoon that makes every food taste good and Pringles’ desperate attempt to produce a viral ad by encouraging consumers to play with their food. It’s episode 53 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 yo

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.

How can radio and other media brands do social media right? Why not ask the expert whose clients include NBC Universal, News Corp, and several OTT video players? Todd Beck is CEO & Founder of Beck Media & Marketing, the agency dozens of TV, OTT, and Tech companies look to for potent digital strategies that get results. Beck Media’s areas of focus span content creation and exploitation on TV, web, mobile, and social media, and whatever medium comes next. Todd was one of the fe

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

I have written a lot about the coming transformation of the auto dashboard and my belief that, in the long run, it will be the domain of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – that these platforms will squeeze out most alternatives. Why? Because consumers will exert their will on automakers and demand that their dashboards are not only as powerful as their smartphones but that they are identical to them (at least within the constraints of driver safety, a sacrifice any driver under

People under the age of 50 spend more time every week using apps and the web on their smartphone than they spend listening to the radio. Indeed, the biggest users of radio are persons 50-64, while the lightest users are 18-24’s, who spend about 50% more time with mobile apps/web than they spend with the radio. That’s from Nielsen data, by the way. So you can assume it’s as accurate…as Nielsen data (I have left TV usage (live and time-shifted) off this chart – that’s actually

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

If ever there was a brand built on proprietary content, that brand is ESPN. Across all platforms, ESPN Audio offers more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content annually, reaching nearly 24 million listeners per week on more than 450 stations. Traug Keller is ESPN’s Senior Vice President, Production, Business Divisions, and he leads three business units at the company: ESPN Audio, ESPN Local and the ESPN Talent Office. For ESPN Audio, Traug oversees all aspects of the busi

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you know that Apple released its latest iPhone last week, and the announcement came with all the usual pomp and publicity. But what does the iPhone 7 mean if you’re working in the radio industry? The key thing is the much noted removal of the 3.5mm Earbud jack, an output device that – until now – has been ubiquitous. Sure, Apple will provide a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter in the box along with some standard Earbuds with a Lightning connect

Recently I was working on a project for a cable TV network involving digital content. They had only one rule: No audio, no way, no how. Why? Mostly because of their belief that of all the digital content elements they could present – text, images, video – the one that is least likely to be shared is audio. And the less the content is shared, the less impact it will have, and the less tune-in potential to their TV content they will see. In TV, as in radio, it’s all about ratin

Here comes the digital media shakeout! And… A recipe to reinvent your legacy media company. Plus, rants and raves about the faux innovations from Staples, Pepsico, and others, and how KFC gets the media to do the marketing for them It’s episode 49 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 for the aud

Howard Lapides is a veteran of radio. As CEO of Lapides Entertainment, Howard is now managing writer/producers, talk show hosts, authors, comedians, and actors, as well as executive producing a variety of shows, like VH-1’s highly successful “Celebrity Rehab” franchise, Comedy Central’s “The Man Show,” and “LoveLine” on MTV. Among Howard’s first words to the audience: “Radio as you learned it is gone, but radio is not gone.” Howard is a keen observer of the radio space and a

From Radio Ink: While the radio industry grapples with what it should be doing about the connected car, there may be some comfort in knowing consumers are still a bit baffled by the connected car as well. Nielsen’s new AutoTECHCAST report shows that nearly one-third of consumers have never heard of these technology-enabled vehicles. “These consumers don’t know what connected cars do, and are not associating vehicle brands with infotainment badging.” Both the auto and radio in

Tweet this: Quality news is dying. And… Twitter growth screeches to a halt – at 52 million users! Plus, rants and raves about the “connected lawn” and proof that Donald Trump’s hands are not as HUUGE as he says they are. It’s episode 48 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 for the audio. Sample