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

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

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

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

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

There’s lots of chatter about podcasting today – from hobbyists, from fans, and from the companies deeply embedded in the space. But all that is nothing compared to what’s coming. Every year comes another statistic about the growth of podcasting among consumers, but even that doesn’t touch what’s coming. What’s coming is that podcasting is going to be big business, and it’s going to happen sooner than you think. ART19 is one of the new companies at the center of that transfor

Lizzie Widhelm is Pandora’s Senior Vice President of Ad Product Sales & Strategy where she spearheads the team that brings advertising products to life and to market. At this Q&A from hivio, the audio future festival, Lizzie talks about the evolving Pandora platform and how it’s changing its sales strategy to meet the future head-on. Here are some of the questions we cover: Why is this evolution of Pandora so important? How is the new shape of Pandora likely to be different f

Sarah van Mosel is Chief Commercial Officer for Acast, a tech platform that helps podcast creators profit, helps audiences find great content, and helps advertisers reach engaged listeners. Much has been said about the rise in podcast usage, but not nearly as much has been said about the rise in interest among advertising for podcasting’s burgeoning audience and how the podcast ecosystem is rising to meet – and create – that demand. Sarah begins with an overview of the podcas

How do radio, online radio, and podcasting fit into the larger pattern of tech trends washing over today’s audiences? What’s the power of audio in the first place? Peter Kafka is a great person to ask. Peter is Senior Editor for Media at Re/code, the digital news platform launched by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. Peter has been covering media and technology since 1997 for Forbes, forbes.com, and the brand that became Business Insider. He is the host of the “Recode Media wit

Millennials are the future, but how do they really use audio platforms: Radio, online radio, podcasting, etc? And how do these platforms fit into their fast-changing lives? We recruited a special panel of Millennials at hivio 2016 so you could hear from 20-somethings themselves, and some of what attendees heard was shocking. When asked if anyone has an actual radio in their home, one panelist compared that idea to owning a laserdisc player! Among the questions these Millennia

Inside the biggest trends in digital advertising. And… Tribune Publishing is now “tronc.” No, really! It’s episode 43 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about pants that can notify you if your zipper, um, needs tending, lyft’s inventive and clever new video campaign with Shaquille O’Neal, and how YouTube’s CEO skips half of her own pre-rolls! Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Clic

Is NPR’s future all used up? And… What happens when Buzzfeed loses its buzz? It’s episode 41 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about pandering politicians, Domino’s Pizza’s new app that orders your pizza in ten second, thoughts on the Social Media Marketing World conference and some closing words about the legendary Prince. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button

Remember when buying a new car meant more than buying an entertainment system that also happened to contain wheels? In other words, remember when you bought the car, not the entertainment system? No longer. Watch this TV spot for the new Kia Optima. It compares the entertainment system “in most mid-size sedans” to a Rubiks Cube. The solution to that problem? Apple CarPlay! So doing stuff via your entertainment system in your car “is as easy as it is on your iPhone.” This stra

There’s a new report from one of my favorite media experts, Jack Myers, and it highlights advertising revenue projections for radio and other media from 2015 to 2020 (you can download your own copy here). To summarize: Terrestrial radio (non-digital advertising only) is expected to be essentially flat with 0.6% growth annually. Digital advertising revenue is expected to increase by 18% annually over the next five years. That means digital will rise from 9% of overall ad reven

So what does it mean when the radio industry headlines lead with debt-burdened iHeartMedia and this: iHeartMedia Battles Angry Creditors as Bankruptcy Looms. What does it mean when the next headline is about Cumulus, and this quotation: “Q4 and 2015 results dismal as radio’s decline shows no signs of stabilization.” What does it mean when CBS announces their plan to spin all of their radio assets while at the same time vowing to boost revenue $3.75 Billion by 2020 based on ev

Rush Limbaugh’s contract is up and it’s decision time – not only for Rush but for the industry which awakens to a 2016 where, for better or worse, Rush is the most famous name in radio. And it’s time for Rush Limbaugh to go. Now this is nothing personal. Rush has had an amazing symbiotic relationship with radio over the years he has been behind the mic, and for that a great many listeners, broadcasters, and clients are grateful. And when Rush moves on, obscurity will not be t

Remember when a toy was something somebody else made that you simply purchased? This week Mattel has announced a $300 3-D printer for kids that will set their imaginations free: Users upload design files via Mattel’s proprietary Design App, which works on Android or iOS devices, and can print parts to be assembled into toys. Terry Wohlers, founder and principal analyst at industry research firm Wohlers Associates, said “It should help to unlock the creative juices of our yout

Look out! The attention economy is collapsing! And… ABC Family Channel rebrands as “Freeform” – and who cares? It’s episode 35 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves on yet another reference to the tired Oreo “dip in the dark” social media tactic, the mysterious connection – if any – between social media wins and TV ratings wins, and a tribute to the legendary David Bowie. Listen as we go inside media to

I could drone on and on about the lessons Donald Trump teaches media companies, but many of the lessons are so obvious that I need not bother. There’s one, however, that you may find surprising. The Trump campaign has on file the name, phone number, address, and email of every one of the tens of thousands who flock to Trump events nationwide. Can your brand say that? Now I’m not suggesting this is unusual in the political sphere. My guess is that it’s the norm (which is why i