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

This was the headline: “Fox adopting YouTube’s Six Second Ad Format.” “This is the first time that a broadcast television company has committed to the ad format, which YouTube introduced last year,” the companies said. That means Fox TV will be airing six second spots across its platforms, including linear television. And don’t think that this trend will stop there, folks. At my hivio event last year I presented research which explicitly tested what consumers – listeners – wa

In the second release from a new study of radio industry thought-leaders, managers say their radio brands can make more money by monetizing streams separately with their own spot inventory than by simulcasting those spots with the over-the-air brands. The study was conducted by Mark Ramsey Media by telephone in November and December, 2014 among more than 100 top-50 market radio General Managers, Sales Managers, Digital Executives, and Program Directors. 56% of these managers

There’s this myth out there that its the personalization that provides the primary motivation to use Pandora: The limitless allure of choice and variety. But I don’t think so. I think it’s much more about the comparatively clutter-free environment. That is, fewer spots. The “variety” argument: Everywhere we turn, it’s clear that consumers favor hits. Even when he was onstage with me at hivio, the audio future festival last year, Pandora CTO Tom Conrad acknowledged that there

Twitter’s ability to attract a swarm of conversations around particular TV shows means that it can marshal a large audience engaged in a particular show without necessitating the use of the traditional TV spot. From the advertiser’s perspective there will be a motivation to reach the people who count without blowing a big wad of money on the TV spot that was traditionally used to do exactly that. Why bother, when Twitter’s “TV conversation targeting” is designed to do somethi

What about the far worse ad clutter on good, old-fashioned terrestrial radio? Does the logic of minimizing spots in one place mean spots should, for the same reasons, be minimized in every place? Here’s my answer (and this may shock you): No. Three reasons: 1. Practical Reality On a purely practical basis, there is no way the radio industry is going to significantly trim on-air spots en masse. All the business pressures are moving in the other direction no matter what the aud

So which is the better strategy to monetize online radio? Featuring targeted spots built for the context and platform of online radio and the consumers who expect something relevant there? Or simulcasting the same spots you run on-air online? Well we can argue about which is better from a strategic standpoint (I certainly have made my opinion known), but we can no longer argue that there aren’t extra, unanticipated costs to simulcasting. Contrary to the wishful thinking among

The spot load on some radio stations continues to swell.  But how much is too much?  At what point will audiences and advertisers decide to take their listening and their business, respectively, elsewhere? A cautionary tale is as close as the nearest cable box. From Broadcasting & Cable: Viacom has come under fire lately for cluttering some of its channels with extra commercials in order to make up for advertising revenue shortfalls caused by lower ratings. But one little-not

Talk to many broadcasters and you’ll hear a common refrain:  We wish we could simulcast our on-air spots with our online ones and bundle those impressions in one Arbitron number. Well, be careful what you wish for. AFTRA rules get in the way of simulcasting these spots on-air and online in the US, but in the UK there is no such restriction and broadcasters are free to simulcast spots or split them as they wish.  Historically, most have simulcasted. But now that is beginning t

From Radio-Info: TRI has a copy of this email from the Kroger agency – “Hello radio partners, a couple weeks ago I had sent out a request for information in regards to your station using the verbiage ‘commercial-free.’ After much discussion with CB&S/Kroger Corporate, we absolutely cannot have spots running on a station that communicates that it is ‘commercial free.’ Please let me know as soon as possible that you will stop using this specific verbiage. All other stations acr