Blog

Chips Ahoy!

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:36:40 GMT

As a person who works in the streaming business you might assume that I am against having an FM chip activated in a cell phone. If so, your assumption would be wrong. Go ahead, let’s do it. It would finally end the debate about it once and for all.

Radio is in fact already ubiquitous. I spent the better part of 20 years making that point. The medium simply does not have a distribution problem. So if the chip is activated how much difference would it actually make? More importantly, would it stop consumers from doing what they already do with their smartphones – engage and interact? Here your assumption on my answer would be correct – it would not change consumer behavior in any significant way.

The likes of Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker, and TuneIn have gained traction on mobile devices because of the experience they create for the consumer. It goes beyond the audio. It is in fact visual, social, and interactive.

Interestingly, there has been a lot of discussion lately about the viability of HD Radio. Much of the commentary has revolved around the same theme. It’s about the content and the consumer experience more than it is the form of distribution.

Final question. Is IP based audio the best platform from which to build unique and compelling content and experiences? If you assume you know my answer, you are probably right.

Digital Thrills The Radio Star

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:10:11 GMT

Posted via Forbes.com

Guest post written by Patrick Reynolds

Patrick Reynolds is executive VP of Triton Digital. He previously served as CMO of Tweeter Home Entertainment Group.

In 1981 the MTV rocket burst into space and onto our TV screens. That first video aired, The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” (you can watch the video below) was both exhilarating and ominous. For the better part of a century it was radio that broke bands, started conversations, shaped what was cool and was a go-to medium for advertisers of dish soap, satellite dishes and everything in between. That pre-eminence was now being disrupted by video.

Fast-forward 30 years and you’ll find the “Radio Star” alive and kicking – different in many important ways, but very much alive. Really it wasn’t JJ Jackson and Martha Quinn who altered the course of radio or posed any serious threat. They were DJs with faces for TV, not radio. What actually changed radio was technology. The fear of it. The use of it. The making friends with it.

Radio had a fairly formulaic model for decades. Music, news, talk and sports were put together in various combinations to an audience of estimated size and attentiveness. The same went for ads. They were usually 30- or 60-second “theater of the mind” spots incorporating storytelling and music or sound effects into a sales pitch. Pretty simple.

Enter digital — the next disruption, currently in heavy rotation. Online content was rarely one-dimensional. It incorporated text, pictures, video and a host of other elements to tell the story, involve the audience and keep the user experience fresh. Not only that, virtually all of it was precisely measured and fully targetable for advertisers. Campaigns targeting women could advertise to them and them alone online. High relevance meets low waste.

Suddenly radio’s fire hose approach to content and advertising, where one size fits all, was feeling limiting.

Then Slacker, Rhapsody and especially Pandora hit the air from a uniquely digital perspective. Radio now had company. These digital natives were primarily advertiser-supported without any allegiances to old models or thinking. They began swimming in the same waters as WXYZ and offering higher levels of choice, customization and control to both listeners and advertisers that traditional radio could not.

Game on. Time to adapt.

Interestingly, this summer will also mark Pandora’s one-year anniversary as a public company. While much financial model debate has ensued since Pandora’s IPO, what cannot be denied is the traction it’s gaining with the public. Last month Pandora served more than one billion hours of content.

Why do consumers like these new services so?

• Co-creation

Internet audio services have libraries of anywhere from 5-15 million songs. The inch-deep Top 40 list this isn’t. It’s for real music lovers. Rather than letting listeners drown in the deep end of the pool of choice, they skillfully use recommendation engines based on prior listening, social media integrations so your friends can suggest songs and playlists, and other forms of curation to steer with you.

• VIP Access

Radio was once something folks huddled around. No more. Radio is now anywhere you are as long as you have a phone or a laptop (to say nothing of Consumer Electronics companies embedding Internet radios into everything from fridges to flat-panels). Pandora, Slacker and others have more than half their audiences listening via mobile. Radio has always been the ultimate companion medium — the best media for when you’re doing something else too. Today people are busier than ever. Internet radio is right by their side.

• WYOU

Technology has injected even more than portability into the equation. In addition to listening to your local station wherever and whenever you choose, technology has made it possible to listen to any station from any place whenever and wherever you choose, free from the constraint of radio towers. If you’re from Boston but living in New York, follow the Sox by listening to the local sports talk from Boston. If you want to keep in touch with what’s happening across the pond, listen to the BBC. Listeners can listen to whatever they want online. Broadcasters can reach an audience only limited by the quality of their content. Advertisers can offer relevant, localized ads to an interested audience. Win. Win. Win.

• The Lean-In

While radio and Internet audio are great in the background, technology has increasingly brought it out into the light. Say you’re at your desk working away while listening to your favorite station on your laptop. You hear a song you like. You’re intrigued. You pull up the player and get the lyrics. The bio of the band. Pictures. Videos. Tour dates. Even the option to buy the song or album in many cases. It’s a very interactive, two-way experience. This combination of lean-in and lean-back makes Internet audio distinct. It’s engaging without being invasive.

• The Green Field

Internet audio diverges from traditional radio when it comes to advertising. The typical commercial radio station in your town plays upwards of 12 minutes of ads per hour, most of which come in 30- or even 60-second increments. That’s a lot of yacketa in this day and age. Online ads tend to not only be fewer, but shorter. This powerful addition by subtraction goes a long way toward explaining the meteoric rise of some pure play stations.

• Pour Some Sugar in my Bowl

Online, the pure plays have enjoyed a big lead in audience growth. As a result, advertising dollars are beginning to flow to them in quantity. Not surprisingly, this has traditional powerhouses like Clear Channel, CBS and Cumulus going digital at a much faster clip than ever before. Clear Channel’s iHeart Radio’s blend of DJ-curated stations plus listener choice is poised to challenge all comers. As a result listeners can expect an even better product. More features, less clutter and continued ramping up of choice, customization and control. A renewed fight for listeners is on(line). That should be music to everyone’s ears.

So, no video did not kill (the) radio (star.) In fact there are now lots of videos on stations’ websites. Ironic. Internet radio is following suit, enabled by digital technologies and embraced by mobile consumption. With US Smartphone listeners projected to swell to nearly eighty-million by 2016, you might say it is right in tune with the times. And the Buggles?

In Case You Missed It April 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:23:36 GMT

Millennial Media's Market Cap Exceeds Mobile-Ad Market

AdAge by Kunur Patel 3-29-12

Shares for the Baltimore-based mobile-ad network were priced at $13 yesterday and almost doubled, to $25, by market close. That makes the company (still operating at a loss) worth nearly $2 billion, which is more than twice the $861.7 million that advertisers are expected to spend on mobile-display ads in the U.S. in 2012, according to eMarketer.

Millennial Media, which sells advertising for smartphone apps and mobile websites, held 17.7% of the mobile-display market in the U.S. last year. That's third, behind Google's 24.8% and Apple's's 18% in 2011.

March Madness Digital Viewing Generates $60 Million in Ad Sales for Turner, CBS

AdAge by Jason Del Rey 3-29-12

It's not a revenue number that's going to convince many that a long-awaited reallocation of TV dollars to digital has arrived. But the approximately $60 million that sources say Turner and CBSSports.com brought in for ad sales around digital viewing of NCAA tournament games this year is a sign of progress.

Ad sales for web streaming of March Madness has grown each year, to nearly double the $32 million sold for the 2009 tournament.

Turner said NCAA.com and March Madness Live registered 31.3 million visits across all platforms (flat with last year) from Selection Sunday through the first Sunday of tournament games. Time spent mobile streaming was up 40% year-over-year for the first two days and 36% for the first weekend of play. The company did not release details on total hours of consumption, as was the practice in the past.

CMOs Say Digital Cannibalizing Budgets From Traditional Media

Marketing Charts 3-30-12

Almost three-quarters of enterprise decision makers report a shift in budgets from traditional advertising to digital in the past year, according to a March 2012 report from DataXu. These shifts are not minor, either: in fact, about one-third of those say that more than half of their budgets have shifted from traditional to digital marketing, while an additional 23% report between 26% and 50% of their budgets moving to digital.

According to those findings, although client marketers said traditional media still makes up the majority of their budgets, only 22% of respondents forecast increases in traditional media spending this year compared to 2011, while half expected to increase their paid digital media spend, and two-thirds their earned digital media spend.

When asked which characteristic of digital marketing prompted their shift, the most common reason cited by respondents to the DataXu survey was increased measurability and accountability (20%), slightly ahead of increased customer engagement (18%) and lower cost of customer acquisition (16%). Roughly 1 in 10 also cited lower cost per lead, and 7% indicated that lower cost of impression was a driving force.

The NPD Group: Online Radio is the Fastest Growing Music Listening Option

NPD 4-3-12

According to an annual study of the consumer music market in the U.S. by The NPD Group, a leading market research company, online radio is the fastest growing music listening option among U.S. consumers. In 2011, 43 percent of U.S. Web users chose to listen to music via Pandora, Slacker, Yahoo! Music, and other online radio options, which is 9 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Based on the findings of NPD’s “Annual Music Study,” there were 18 million more online radio listeners in 2011. Listening to free online radio is most popular among young adults age 18 to 25, and strong listener growth is also occurring among the 36- to 50-year-old age segment.

While 42 percent of Web users listened to free radio options in 2011, just 3 percent paid to listen to radio online.

Spotify Makes Ad Impressions Count

eMarketer 4-4-12

The Spotify starting page features a large ad in its center-top position, something seen by 100% of participants in EyeTrackShop’s February 2012 study. This ad was the first thing viewers glanced at, with only 0.4 seconds elapsing before they noticed it, and it grabbed their attention for a full 4 seconds—longer than any other element on the page, including music controls. On the flip side, it took study participants over 5 seconds to notice the Facebook-integrated portion of the page.

EMI Splits With Grooveshark

FMQB 4-4-12

EMI has ended its contract with music file-sharing service Grooveshark, leaving the company without any of the four major labels. CNet reports that EMI has filed court documents alleging that Grooveshark has not paid the financial obligations of its licensing deal. EMI's publishing unit sued Grooveshark for breach of contract earlier this year.

Streaming revenue is still small, but predictions are it could double in 2012.

Inside Radio 4-4-12

Banner ads and streaming audio spots brought home the most digital bacon for radio last year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of online ad sales. That’s according to a new survey from Borrell Associates of 2,338 radio stations. And thanks to growing advertiser acceptance, the firm says in-stream ads may be 2012’s fastest-growing digital component.

Streaming audio grabbed 22% of all online advertising for radio last year. That’s up 20% over 2010 levels...

Of $16.4 billion in total local digital dollars spent in 2011, radio stations snagged 1.8%, down 0.3 points from 2010...

Read More: www.insideradio.com

TV Cord Cutters Steadily Rising; Numbers Remain Low

Marketing Charts 4-6-12

The percentage of American pay TV subscribers cutting the cord is low, but the numbers are gradually rising, says Convergence Consulting Group in an April 2012 report. Using its proprietary cord cutting model, which takes into account economic conditions, annual subscriber additions, and digital transition, the company estimates that 2.6% of US TV subscribers, or 2.65 million subscribers, cut the cord between 2008 and 2011 to rely solely on online, Netflix, and other sources.

Spotify offers music play button for websites

Reuters by Georgina Prodhan 4-11-12

Digital music streaming service Spotify is aiming to vastly widen its reach and draw in more listeners by offering to embed a play button on other websites.

The strategy echoes that of Google's YouTube which has become the world's third most popular website partly by allowing external sites easily to embed its videos.

Spotify announced partnerships on Wednesday with web publishers including The Guardian, Vogue and The Huffington Post, and with blogging platform Tumblr.

Readers who are not registered Spotify users will have to sign up to an app that will run in the background, but will not have to leave the publisher's site.

Music Industry Announces Agreement On Royalty Rates

FMQB 4-11-12

Organizations representing the music publishers and songwriters, major record labels, digital music services and cellular phone companies have announced an agreement setting mechanical royalty rates and standards that supports a slate of new cutting-edge business models to help consumers access and enjoy music.

The settlement provides for the development of new digital music services and business models offering music to consumers by creating new rates and terms under Section 115 for five new categories, which include:

· Mixed service bundles (for example, a locker service, limited interactive service, downloads or ringtones combined with a non-music product such as a mobile phone, consumer electronics device or Internet service)

· Paid locker services (subscription-based locker providing on-demand streaming and downloads)

· Purchased content lockers (a free locker functionally provided to a purchaser of a permanent digital download, ringtone or CD where the music provider and locker have an agreement)

· "Limited offerings" (subscription-based service offering limited genres of music or specialized playlists)

· Music bundles (bundling music products such as CDs, ringtones and permanent digital downloads)

90% of SoundEx 2011 revenue just from SiriusXM and Pandora, says Live365 attorney

RAIN by Michael Schmitt 4-12-12

According to new analysis from Live365 general counsel Angus MacDonald, 90% of SoundExchange's 2011 revenues "came from only two sources": SiriusXM and Pandora.

MacDonald estimates SiriusXM's royalty payments to SoundExchange to be around $200 million in 2011 (based on the company's judicially-filed complaint against SoundExchange from March 23, though "a small portion" of the figure may be non-U.S. statutory payments). And Pandora's royalty payments to SoundExchange totaled $136.3 million in the 12 months that ended January 31, 2012.

SoundExchange's total 2011 revenues were $371.9 million.

"Another interesting fact: Pandora paid about as much in royalties for its FY 2012 (i.e., $136.3M) as it made in TOTAL REVENUES for its previous fiscal year, FY 2011 ($137.7M)."

Spotify Launches Brand Apps

AdAge by Kunur Patel 4-13-12

The music-streaming service will add apps from the likes of AT&T, McDonald's, Intel and Reebok over the coming months in its latest effort to curate its immense library of music and make the platform more attractive to advertisers that can help offset massive licensing costs.

The first brand apps will include AT&T's "Surround Sounds," which plots songs to the locations where they were written, recorded, played or performed, allowing users to find music by searching maps. Reebok's app creates workout playlists, and Intel's "Sifter" recommends songs, bands and artists based on what users' Facebook friends are listening to.

So far [Spotify] has paid $300 million to record labels for streaming songs, according to Chief Marketing Solutions Officer Jeff Levick.

While Spotify doesn't charge anyone, brand or not, to build apps on top of its service, brand apps could attract more ad money to the platform.

Online Advertising Hits $31.7 Billion In 2011

MediaPost by Mark Walsh 4-18-12

Internet ad spending grew 22% in 2011 to $31.7 billion, according to the latest data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. That growth rate tops last year’s 14.5%, indicating that digital advertising continues to ramp up after a recession-induced setback in 2009.

For the fourth quarter of 2011, online ad spending hit nearly $9 billion -- up 20.4% from a year ago, and 14.7% from the third quarter.

The IAB said mobile advertising -- which it began tracking in 2010 for the first time -- was the fastest-growing category in 2011, jumping 149% to $1.6 billion from $641 million in 2010. Mobile also doubled from 2.5% to 5% of total online ad dollars this year.

By its reckoning, the IAB said the $31.7 billion in Internet advertising in 2011 eclipsed the $31 billion in cable TV advertising last year, making the category second only to broadcast TV ($38.5 billion).

Internet radio on a fast track with fastest growing demos.

Inside Radio 4-23-12

Hispanics and cell-phone-only consumers are two of the nation’s fastest growing population segments. They also out-perform the average when it comes to listening to online radio.

A new study by the Media Audit finds one in four adults in each of these fast-rising population segments have listened to internet radio in the past seven days. That’s higher than the total 18+ population average (19.7%) but lower than the more than one third of adults 18-34 (36.6%) who say they’ve listened in the last week.

The majority of top 10 markets have a higher penetration of internet radio than the 61 market average.

Audio streaming tends to over-deliver in upper income demos, with disproportionately higher shares of adults earning household incomes of $75,00 [sic] or greater. It also out-performs the general population in college-educated demos and people who work.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Facebook's Q1 Ad Sales Climb to $872 Million

ClickZ by Christopher Heine 4-23-12

Facebook's ad revenue totaled $872 million during Q1 2012, up 37 percent from the $637 million it took in during the same period the year before, according to its amended S-1 filing released today.

The Menlo Park, CA-based firm's Q1 total revenue reached $1.058 billion, up from $731 million in the same period a year ago.

Making Lasting Connections

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:15:37 GMT

Posted via Radio Ink

It's been an interesting year in the news. Then again, isn't the news always interesting? Whether it is the controversy over the death of Trayvon Martin, the debt crises in Europe and the U.S., the political battle brewing in this election year, or the diplomatic tensions with Syria and Iran, there is always a reason to tune in and get connected to what is happening in our world – locally and globally.

We turn to radio to keep up with the events of the day while simultaneously dealing with the day's events of our own lives. Radio is the ultimate companion. It's what we have always done while doing something else.

Increasingly, we turn to radio's digital manifestations via our computers and/or mobile devices. Digital has the added advantage of being able to diversify content coverage with video, maps, pictures, and links. It enhances the radio experience.

A recent Pew Research Center study indicates that "the migration of audiences toward digital news advanced to a new level in 2011 and early 2012, the era of mobile and multidigital devices." Further, the Pew report concluded that "as many as 38 percent of Americans now listen to audio on digital devices each week, and that is projected to double by 2015."

So, if you are a radio station that consumers turn to when news breaks, here are a few things to consider:

1. Make sure your hosting provider has the "headroom" necessary for traffic spikes.

Broadcasters spend significantly to ensure that the audience can hear their content. As that audience continues to increase, it is imperative that the same delivery quality exists. If your system is geared toward your typical volume, it will probably crash at atypical times. It's the radio equivalent of a retailer having the same inventory on Black Friday as they do any other day. Not good for consumers. And not good for advertisers.

2. Make sure your system is distributed.

Again, if traffic spikes and it's all on one server and that server goes down, you then replace the sound of incredible news coverage with the disturbing sound of silence. Multiple points of presence insure the distribution of your content to your audience – in your market, and if necessary, across the globe.

3. Make sure your technical partners are not flying by the seat of their pants.

Keeping pace with technical advances requires investment as much as know-how. Technology providers must continually invest, not only to keep pace but to innovate and stay ahead of the curve.

4. Take credit!

Watch your data carefully. When you have spikes indicating that the marketplace is turning to you for your station's take on things, share that data with clients and agencies. Internet audio has a quantifiability few other outlets can replicate. If you're the go-to resource, wear that mantle proudly.

News can be a boon to the industry – if your station is up to the challenge. Audit your systems to be sure it is. Great content that nobody can get to is the saddest commercial "break" of all.

In Case You Missed It March 2012

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:56:13 GMT

"In Case You Missed It" is a monthly collection of news stories and data that pertain to radio, music, digital, social media and media in general, plus a whole lot more. Look for it each month right here on the Triton Digital blog.

Report: How Americans are Spending their Media Time… and Money

Nielsen 2-9-12

Americans spend more than 33 hours per week watching video across the screens, according to the latest Nielsen Cross-Platform Report. But how they’re consuming content—traditional TV and otherwise—is changing. Demonstrating that consumers are increasingly making Internet connectivity a priority, 75.3 percent pay for broadband Internet (up from 70.9% last year); 90.4 percent pay for cable, telephone company-provided TV or satellite. Homes with both paid TV and broadband increased 5.5 percent since last year.

Read More: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/report-how-americans-are-spending-their-media-time-and-money/

The NPD Group: After Years of Defection, the Number of U.S. Music Buyers is on the Upswing

PRWeb.com 3-6-12

After years of decline, driven by sharply falling CD sales and maturing digital download market, total music-track sales rose 4 percent during 2011. Although CD sales dipped, the decline was not nearly as severe as in the past, and the drop was offset by a healthy paid-music download market.

Consumers also now have a wider variety of sources to discover new music -- from traditional AM/FM radio and online services like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify. Even as Apple’s iTunes approaches its tenth anniversary next year, there are still nearly twice as many CD buyers in the U.S. as there are paid digital-music downloaders.

Read More: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9255211.htm

Pandora Misses Revenue, Earnings Estimates

MediaPost 3-6-12 by Mark Walsh

[Pandora] reported a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $81.3 million, missing the Wall Street consensus estimate of a 2 cent per share loss and revenue of $83 million in its fourth quarter ending Jan. 31. Excluding about $3.4 million in stock-based compensation, Pandora would have had a loss of 3 cents a share.

Pandora's oveall [sic] revenue of $81.3 million was up 71% from a year ago, with ad sales up 74% to $72.1 million. Subscription and other revenue grew 51% to $9.2 million.

Its active user base rose 62% to 47 million and its share of total U.S. radio listening doubled to 5.5% from 2.7% a year ago.

Read More: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/169587/pandora-misses-revenue-earnings-estimates.html

Data driving new Billboard "On-Demand" chart will be included in Hot 100

RAIN 3-14-12 posted by Paul Maloney

Billboard has created the "On-Demand Songs" chart, based on song plays on subscription online music services. Data from the chart is now included in Billboard's Hot 100.

The weekly chart will rank songs based on "every on-demand play request and plays from unlimited listener-controlled radio channels" available from MOG, Muve Music, Rdio, Rhapsody, Slacker and Spotify (data from Zune and Sony Music Unlimited is planned to be included in the coming weeks). This includes streams as well as tethered downloads, as heard by paying subscribers and free users alike.

Billboards' Hot 100 will now include the streaming data from the new On-Demand Songs chart, plus non-interactive plays from Rhapsody and Slacker. (This is in addition to terrestrial radio plays, digital track sales, plays on video request service Akoo, and audio from on-demand streams from MySpace and Guvera, Yahoo! radio streams and Yahoo! on-demand video plays.)

Nielsen BDS, which collects and processes the streaming data for the chart, says it's tallied more than 4.5. billion audio streams so far this year, including an all-time weekly high of more than 625 million in the past week.

BIA Says Ad Revenue Will Not Keep Pace With Economy

Radio Ink 3-20-2012

Today, BIA/Kelsey will release its latest 5-year forecast on advertising. It's a report the company puts together twice every year. Due to a stagnant economy last year BIA/Kelsey is first revising down its revenue figures for 2011 by $3 Billion. "In October we projected the total of the U.S. local media market to be $135.9 billion in 2011, but we now expect it to be only $132.8 billion. This slowdown, plus the lack of political advertising in 2011, resulted in a decrease of 2.4% compared with 2010." Looking ahead BIA/Kelsey predicts slow growth in local advertising and strong gains in digital

Read More: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2417955&spid=24698

Beats Is Buying MOG Music Subscription Service

All Things D 3-20-12 by Peter Kafka

Headphone maker Beats Electronics is purchasing music subscription service MOG, according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. But the deal hasn’t closed yet.

MOG CEO David Hyman has told reporters that MOG has 500,000 active users, but he also told reporters last month that MOG was not trying to sell itself.

Read More: http://allthingsd.com/20120320/beats-is-buying-mog-music-subscription-service/

Weekly internet radio usage leaps 30%.

Inside Radio 3-29-12

Listening to streaming audio is experiencing its largest year-over-year increase since Arbitron and Edison Research began tracking it in 1998.

Weekly usage of internet radio — both the online streams of terrestrial broadcasters and streams from pureplay streamers such as Pandora — has increased from 22% of Americans 12+ in 2011 to 29% in 2012. That’s up from 12% in 2006 and 5% in 2001.

Wider smartphone penetration appears to be driving the acceleration. Overall smartphone penetration stood at 48% in January, according to Nielsen, with those in the 25-34 demo showing the greatest proportion of smartphone ownership at 66%.

Among 25-34s, eight of ten of those that had gotten a new device in the last three months chose a smartphone. “The success of some of today’s popular on-demand and streaming internet audio services is partially of their own doing, but also partially a trailing variable of the rise in smartphones and mobile media consumption,” Edison VP of strategy and marketing Tom Webster says. “In a sense, the continued penetration of smartphones is encouraging something of a radio renaissance, though it doesn’t look like your father’s Victrola.” Webster says new Arbitron and Edison data shows “pent-up demand for frictionless, mobile audio programming” and that “smartphones are opening the floodgates.”

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Digital Drives US Local Ad Spending Growth

eMarketer 3-29-12

According to local advertising research firm BIA/Kelsey, US companies will spend an expected $136.2 billion on local advertising—including traditional, online and mobile—this year. That number is expected to climb steadily toward $151.3 billion by the end of 2016.

Online ad spending will continue to inch ahead, closing the gap with traditional US local ad spending. By 2016, the firm projects, local digital ad spending will account for $38.5 billion, or more than 25% of total local ad spending, up from 16% in 2012.

Read More: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008935

Understanding the Underlying Forces of Digital

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:31:14 GMT

One of the difficulties facing any media executive is staying on top of the whirlwind pace of digital change. Just when you understand Facebook, along comes Twitter, and when you finally get Twitter, here comes Foursquare. Researching and staying abreast of what’s hot today and about to be hot tomorrow can be overwhelming. There is a better way, however. Rather than look at the actual developments after-the-fact, why not study the forces of change, so you can understand what is happening and where things are going. This entry will help you do that.

The first thing you need to understand is that all digital trends originate from the same source: consumer need and desire. Anything that better serves the consumer will become a significant digital trend. Right now, I want to concentrate not so much on the trends that focus on innovative content like Pandora or Farmville, but rather on the platforms that take a traditional thing but make it better serve consumers.

What Do Consumers Want?

The first thing we need to answer, however, is “what do consumers want?” The answer is as simple as it is maddening--consumers want everything. The want it when they want it, how they want it, where they want it, and in the way they want it. What we are seeing today in terms of wider digital trends are companies better providing the when, where, and how. Let’s look at some examples:

Netflix

One of the core innovations of Netflix was to give consumers more options for where they could consume film and TV by putting content at their fingertips via laptops, mobile phones, and gaming consoles. If you have a smartphone, a tablet, a PC, a gaming console, or a specific streaming box--Netflix is there. It has taken the concept of watching TV in a living room or bedroom and freed it to anywhere.

TiVo

As Netflix has made the consumption of old movies and TV shows mobile, TiVo has freed consumers from the confines of broadcast programming schedules. No longer does John Doe have to cut drinks short so he can be home in time for his favorite show at 9pm. He can have TiVo record it so that he can watch it whenever he wants.

iTunes

The launch of iTunes completely disrupted the record industry. No longer were consumers forced to buy an entire album with one great song and eleven filler songs for $15. iTunes allowed them to buy one great song for $1. The concept of forcing a consumer to buy an album when they only wanted a song is a classic example of a media industry disconnected from consumers. When Apple exploited that disconnect, the music industry was changed irrevocably.

Looking Ahead

Plain and simple, these companies knew better than to overestimate consumer tolerance and were creative enough to find a way to provide solutions that gave the consumers what they wanted. If you were passively looking at digital trends, you’d be amazed and intrigued, but the reality is that when you know the underlying forces, such innovative companies make total sense.

So, when looking at the complex digital landscape, keep the above in mind. It will help you separate the real trends from the hype and also let you better understand what trends will affect your business. Because if your industry is relying on the tolerance of consumers not getting everything they want, your industry will be disrupted. It’s just a matter of time.

Curly Was Wrong

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:30:28 GMT

Posted via iMedia Connection

I was reading Fast Company’s list of "Most Innovative Companies" when it struck me: Curly was wrong.　

You know-- leather-faced Curly from City Slickers. Specifically when he (played by all-time badass Jack Palance) was imparting his cowboy wisdom on hapless (and now similarly leather-faced Oscar host) Billy Crystal that the key to life was 'just one thing.’　

All apologies, but wrong.　

Life is about a bunch of things. Big things. Smaller things. But "things" plural. Fast Company’s top four most innovative companies—Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon—have this decidedly in common. In a seemingly ‘there’s an app for that world’ where ‘do one thing and do it better than anyone else’ is the mantra, they stand in contrast to a degree. Their utility is not one-dimensional or limited in any way. Their future seems wider, not deeper.　

I won’t belabor the Applification of America. Apple is pervasive, thanks largely to ease of use and enormous utility. Apple works like you think it should and does a bunch of stuff that makes your life better or more enjoyable—even if you didn’t know it prior. What started with the iconic Mac has ballooned into something much, much more—a mix of hardware and software wrapped around an elegant experiential core. Even now, Apple seems nearer to its beginning than its end. Don’t delude yourself. We’ll all be driving Apple cars soon and asking Siri where the best place to beat the meter is.　

Facebook began as a great way to keep in touch with friends new and old, to share some pictures, and blow off a little steam and time. Now it’s a way to share music, is on its way to becoming the prevalent Search venue, and will soon be all of our personal valet. It will know what we want—from turkey sandwich to Turkey vacation—before we do. Its key is that it’s so outwardly anthropomorphic. It doesn’t feel like software or layered databases. It feels like the corner pub, the high school reunion, or Aunt Gertrude’s parlor. Eight-hundred million people and counting stick with Facebook and all its foibles because we’re deeply engaged with it and have too much invested to unplug from it and move to Google+ or any of the other suitors for our social pursuits. In time, I have every reason to believe the Pinterests of the world will be bought or buried, reincarnated inside THE Facebook as it further solidifies its position as the place people digitally commune with one another for a long, long time.　

Google, in contrast to Facebook’s warm and fuzzy human qualities, was the icily efficient box you typed search terms into. Remember that? Now it is email, calendars, maps, hardware, and the single best way to visualize a 3D rendering of the ulnar nerve. We all feed it more and use it more because it works—usually quickly and efficiently. Honestly, we’d all be reduced to nose-picking mouth-breathers if it went away one day. It is the undisputed champion of moving information into our heads. Think about it. Its utility and inroads into our lives (and soon our wallets) will grow unabated for the foreseeable future. Google it. You’ll see.　

Amazon was a place to buy books. Now you can get Hugo Boss jeans (I’m told), organic pickles, or authentic MG (the iconic British convertible) cufflinks. Oh, and you could even get a Kindle, arguably doing more to promote reading than Harry Potter. With a significant share of hardware, software, and content sales, Amazon is not just transforming retail, but virtually all industries. It works. People like it. It’s simple. Why change?　

Ultimately, I’ll give Curly this—they all began with ‘just one thing.’ From there, they consolidated their bases and built upon them vast, diverse enterprises that give us all more and more reason to use them. And use them. And use them some more. If it aint broke, don’t fix it, most of us say.　

In a world increasingly thin-sliced, these four (with Foursquare hot on their heels) are becoming less specialized and more generally utilitarian. One and done competitors should take care. These all-in-one giants are not quite monopolies, but they’ve clearly got hotels on the green and yellow properties. They’re so hard to avoid because no one really wants to.

Don't tell Curly. He's packing.

Disruption of the App Ecosystem

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:02 GMT

I'm attending a panel on smart phones and tablets, and the sentiment is very relevant to media. Overall, the panelists, which include people from Intel, Yahoo, and Nvidia, see that the key factor for consumers is cross-device syncing and consistency. In short, a media company has to provide a familiar and consistent experience no matter what the device. As one panelist said-it's not the app, it's the ecosystem.

This led to the natural question about achieving this: Apps coded to individual platforms and devices versus web apps coded via HTML 5. The sentiment was very much that the current state of app stores will be disrupted with a flood of Web apps. One panelist put it this way: Apple wants device apps and Google wants web apps. Both will continue, but the relevance of web apps will explode.

For media companies, this means that you need to rethink your mobile strategy as a standalone piece and reconsider it as a holistic consumer experience across tablets, laptops, desktops, TVs, and-yes-radios.

Deconstructing and Reconstructing Audiences

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:02 GMT

We all had great fun with the Conan vs. Leno tiff. Who would prevail in the quest for the coveted 11:30pm comedy slot? We all love some good mud-slinging now and again.

In truth, this battle may have been the last of its kind. Non-time-sensitive content will be consumed at the viewer's (in the case of television) discretion, not the network's. She will decide what she watches at 11:30pm, 10:07pm, or any other time of her choosing. Maybe she'll watch it on her big flat screen television with a DVR. Maybe she'll pull it down from her cable company's on-demand library. Maybe on a laptop via Hulu. Maybe, at Steve Job's request, she'll watch it via iTunes on an iPad. Any one of a dozen mobile phone models could do Jay's monologue justice-technically speaking.

Not so very long ago there was an almost deterministic "ritual of behavior." I watch this program, on this channel, on this TV, at this time and day. Today, through the advances of technology, I'll watch whatever the hell I want, when I want, on any one of my networked devices.

Radio is hot on the heels of television. In many ways, it's even out ahead of television.

A very recent study showed that more people are streaming radio than video content— including YouTube. People spend more time streaming radio than nearly every other form of media. Every prognosticator shows that growth will continue in double-digit fashion for the foreseeable number of years. Sounds good right? Well, it is good— if you look at it correctly.

Let's look at a few examples. Take Mike&Mike in the Morning on ESPN. In Boston, I can listen to the show in my car on WEEI 850 AM. I can listen to it on my phone via ESPN Radio's mobile app. I can listen to it via satellite-either XM or Sirius or Sirius XM. I can actually watch the show on ESPN2. I can download the show's podcast for future consumption on my phone or computer (or both). These are just some of the options.

If I'm an advertiser, I have, fundamentally, two options if I'm interested in buying Mike&Mike. If I'm buying the show to buy its audience, its loyalists, because my research says my target audience consumes and has affinity for the show, I might buy it in all its facets. Whenever anyone, anytime, anywhere, on any device, consumes M&M, I want my brand to be there, front and center. Now, I may need my audio buyer to buy the spot streams, a network buyer to buy satellite and syndicated content, my online buyer to handle podcasts and espn.radio.com. Of course, each agency person is probably dealing with a different person on the publishing side. All in all, this transaction will require dozens of peoples' direct involvement. Sounds cumbersome? It is. Now it is getting easier. On both sides, cross-training to be well-versed and less myopic is already underway. More and more people have taken the Rosetta Stone courses in "Media" and "Marketing," not "Spots," "Dots," or "Spreadsheets." But still, it takes work.

Here's the payout. One show monetized multiple ways. In the end, the cumulative spend on the show, across channels, is considerably more than a monolithic audience in any one delivery channel.

Significant effort yields significant return. It's the 'American Dream,' the promise of capitalism.

On the other hand, maybe I'm just trying to add this sliver of audience to a mountain of audience slivers I've collected elsewhere. Think more grocery store than restaurant. Your inventory becomes an ingredient, not the main meal. Maybe it's by market. Maybe I only want to buy the stream. Maybe only in one market. Maybe only on mobile. Maybe only on the iPhone. In the end, I may whittle the audience down to the point that, frankly, it's insignificant, revenue-wise, to the publisher. My advice to you is clear. Sell however many impressions they want to buy. First-hand, I've witnessed a small, little one-market, ten-thousand dollar buy lead to a 24 market six-figure buy. Don't assume every order in the present is indicative of orders in the future. We're all learning.

Radio content creators take note. People are going to access your content live via terrestrial, via the web, via mobile (in all its incarnations), via iTunes, via Yahoo!, and via Google. Almost immediately, people will be accessing your content via the iPad, via streaming-enabled in-dash car radios, via Sonos, and other media aggregator hardware devices, and gaming devices. The list goes on and on.

The key, I think, is to get advertisers to buy as much of your audience in as many discreet packages as possible. By extension, try to not corral them into as few of your outlets as possible. But, if they're determined to buy Blackberry Pearl owners only, sell it to them - At a premium. They're looking for a needle in a haystack. You have that needle. Be fairly compensated, perhaps unfairly.

Moving forward, forget about the bottle. It's all about the wine. That's where the money is. That's where the value is. That's what separates you from your competitor.

CES Day One

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:01 GMT

I really didn't come to CES to see all the neat new tablet computers or to check out the latest 4G smartphones. While these are cool and definitely fill the hype bucket, their relevance to media is not nearly as revolutionary as the hype would have you believe. They are distribution points, most of which are replicating existing distribution points. As such, they present no real new challenges for radio. This goes for the plethora of dashboard and in-car announcements, too. We all knew that the Internet would be in cars soon, and that the wave is crashing now should be no surprise.

So why did I come to CES? I came to dig under and behind the headlines to see if there is any big changes in what these distribution points can tell us about packaging content. While a glut of tablet computers may not matter much to radio, how consumers utilize the form factor and OS is critically important. So I chose to attend the panels that addressed these kinds of concerns. How are consumers using new devices and technologies and how does this affect media?

At the end of day one, I'm already seeing an astounding theme being repeated at panel after panel, from the smartphone panel to the digital music panel to the in-dash auto panel: Changing or adapting content for various screens and outlets is a major mistake. A consistent presentation across every device is critical.

This is completely antithetical to the strategy that was pronounced at conventions like CES as recently as two years ago, where the content providers were told to chop up long content into chunks for small screens, and into moderate chunks for laptops and desktops, leaving long-form for the bigger TV screens. Today, those ideas are completely debunked. Panelist after panelist talked about consumers wanting the same content from everywhere. The reason comes down to what Shelly Palmer summarized thusly: "Consumers want content on the best available screen."

The "best available screen" concept is groundbreaking and incredibly important. If a fan of the L.A. Lakers is away from home and wants to watch a Laker game, they will want to watch it on their cell phone. If they are at home, they will want to watch it on their TV. If the person's wife is watching Friends reruns, the person will want to watch it on their iPad. The best available screen.

Note that this concept doesn't rate any one screen better than any other. It's simply the best available. This is the ultimate in consumer convenience, and as such should have been self-evident, even as an multiple industries missed it.

The corollary of the "best available screen" concept is that the user experience has to be consistent across devices. This was also repeated at panel after panel. The user who wants a piece of content, wants that content to be as consistent as possible no matter where it is consumed. This was a major theme of the smartphone/tablet panel, where the concept of utilizing apps was shoved way down in importance behind maintaining a consistent user experience across devices. When a user embraces your content, you better make sure the experience online, on mobile, and over the air is as consistent as possible.

This concept was repeated in the Hollywood panel, where the importance of synced connectivity was discussed. This is nothing more than providing fans with content while letting them choose how to consume it in a seamless experience. In other words, you can buy a movie on your computer, but then be able to finish watching it on your cell phone or tablet-all in an experience that is comfortable and familiar.

The auto dashboard panel sang the same tune. "When a consumer carries their phone into the car and then changes to the car experience, they expect it to be the same." Again, the experience is the same, while the devices differ.

For media companies, this should be a significant wake-up call. Adapting new content for new distribution channels should take a back seat to making sure that your content is consistent in both experience and quality from one device to another. Things that are missing or different will disappoint the consumer. For radio, this is good news, as the streaming experience is already very similar across every distribution point. The difference is with all the other stuff. A mobile presence that doesn't have all the features of the station's website is immediately failing in this promise.

A side effect of the above was the underyling rumbling of the app model collapsing to the more consistent web and HTML 5 model. Major auto software designer Qnx has based much of their user interface and engagement on HTML 5, where they know it can be easily skinned in other contexts. The smartphone/tablet panel was explicit in stating that the app store model would be disrupted. As one person noted, Apple wants native apps and Google wants web apps. "Never bet against the web" was his advice.

One additional takeaway from day one is worth mentioning: The in-dash ecosystem appears to be a complicated mess. The auto dealers are bracing for government rules regulating how much engaging content can be included in the dash, and each manufacturer has a myriad of OS and framework solutions. A consistent mantra in the dashboard panel was "simplicity." An app ecosystem is far from simple and solutions aren't forthcoming. For a content company, this is a thorny thicket to navigate. The simplest solution is to just embrace existing standards and make the audio stream available. Beyond that you're at the whims of the manufacturers. There really is no clear vision on how a car manufacturer will create the "infinite dial" that aggregates Internet, satellite, HD, and broadcast streams, but make no mistake-the preset model is one they are familiar with and would hope to replicate.

So, as I head into day two, I see a new strategic view of media's distribution strategy-It isn't one where you adapt some content for HD, some for broadcast, some for web, some for dashboard, and some for mobile. It's one where you create a holistic strategy that provides a uniform experience across every distribution point. Where there are differences, it is where you can deepen the user experience, not change it or adapt it.

For day two, I'm also going to geek out on all those tablet devices.

The Music Models Have Changed

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:01 GMT

At the Tech Policy Summit I'm watching the panelists filled with optimism while shaking their heads over an industry that seems locked into old models. Ted Cohen was particularly eloquent in discussing how the existing stakeholders-from the stagehands union to the labels themselves-need to understand that they can still make a lot of money, but they need to do it differently.

Sadly, the consensus was that the solution was for the artists to take control over their careers in a way that disintermediates the label. Examples given included OK Go and Amanda Palmer. It's sad because they all also felt that the artists appreciated the labels in doing all the dirty work, but now they just can't rely on them to do it under the new models.

One key point was that giving away music for free is a critical business strategy that the labels don't understand. Manager of the band Metric quoted by Martin Atkins: "The music that we give away the most is the music that sells the most." Atkins added: "You don't have a problem when fans want free music. You have a problem when fans don't want free music."

Liveblogging from CES

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:01 GMT

After arriving this morning from Dallas, I'll be live blogging from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This is an important year for radio and media at this conference. We have a dizzying array of new devices and distribution outlets. I'll be examining these types of things over the next few days.

I'll be posting longer in depth pieces here, while you'll find short observations via my Twitter stream at jim_kerr and other thoughts via my Facebook account.

Feel free ton friend me at digitaljk on Facebook. Bandwidth is a real challenge at CES, but I'll do my best!

5 Trends for Future of Radio

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:28:00 GMT

Posted via VentureBeat.Com

The radio industry finds itself in a familiar yet precarious position entering 2011—traditional revenues are sustainable enough to continue with decent returns yet not enough to invest in transitioning to digital without re-evaluating some fundamentals of the business. The result is that the emerging trends will not be revolutionary so much as evolutionary, and the key will be finding those points where traditional methodologies and digital extensions converge the greatest.

Here are five of these points:

1. Gathering and organizing listener data becomes priority one

While radio has historically been about broadcast, at the center of current digital development, from mobile to social media to streaming to advertising, is the unique user. That disconnect will start to be addressed by broadcasters in 2011. Gathering, identifying, and communicating with radio listeners at a one-to-one level will be the centerpiece of radio's—indeed, all of media's future.

2. Local advertisers start to demand digital accountability

More than anything, this will focus radio's attention on digital. John Wanamaker's famous quote "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is I don't know which half" will start to haunt radio in 2011. Why? Because digital publishers and ad networks are saying you don't need to guess anymore—and local advertisers are listening. They'll only pay for the half which works. Radio's shotgun approach to advertising will look more and more inefficient and not worthy of premium rates.

For radio, this will require working with their digital assets. This will entail everything from targeted advertising in audio streams to coupon deals presented in similar fashion to Groupon.

3. User-level ad targeting starts to redefine the value of streaming

This is closely related to trends number one and two. Digital agencies have completely ignored streaming through 2010 and traditional agencies offered marginal CPMs. The addition of user-level ad targeting will take CPMs to compelling levels thanks in part to digital agencies, who will finally be seeing a similar ad environment to what they see in display-ads targeted to specific users based not only on demographics, but their actual interests and behavior.

4. Digital agencies finally notice radio

As radio embraces more digital strategies to remain relevant to their existing advertisers, a positive side effect will be that digital agencies will turn their attention to radio. This will be a huge boon for the industry as ad revenue continues to erode from traditional agencies and move to digital. Key drivers will be the continued growth of streaming, local digital initiatives like daily deals, improved user-level targeting, and direct digital marketing via things like email and texting.

5. Radio starts to significantly embrace location-based mobile services

Radio somehow got left behind when services like Foursquare and Gowalla were out looking for media partners, but that will change in a big way in 2011. The ability for radio to go to an advertiser and utilize a digital platform to send their huge reach into stores is a huge opportunity.

Es Sólo Matemáticas

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:52:26 GMT

The IAB published a study in 2010 on Hispanic media consumers in the U.S., and the results are quite eye opening.

Here are the facts:

- By 2014, 39 million Hispanics will be online.
- By 2014, they will have 1.3 billion dollars in spending power.
- By 2015, the Hispanic population will grow to 57.7% of the U.S.
- They have heavy active users of email, texting and other mobile activities.

We recently started working with Grupo ACIR in Mexico City. Our experiences to date have been nothing but stellar. In the first month alone, after signing up for our Triton Digital loyalty program they launched with over 1 million pageviews. The truth is, the Hispanic audience is very willing to provide valuable feedback to help you better shape your brand.

In the U.S., the Hispanic media consumer is one of the fastest growing sectors for marketers to reach. What’s your strategy? Does it include mobile to reach a younger demo? Does it involve targeted emails to older adults? Does it include product offers to support their shopping needs? Do you have a social strategy to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter? Now is the time to start using tools like Triton provides to build up your database of fans with messaging that is relevant to them.

This week at the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference, we’ll be addressing these issues. If you’re there, please join us for the “Mobile, Interactive and Internet platforms for Hispanic Radio” panel on March 22nd at 2PM.

In Case You Missed It Feb 2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:07:35 GMT

ComScore: Facebook's Share of Display Ads Reaches 28%

ClickZ by Christopher Heine 1-30-12

Facebook's share of U.S. display ad impressions grew to 27.9 percent during 2011, according to comScore data revealed on Monday. It's a sizable lift; the Reston, VA-based researcher estimated Facebook's 2010 share of display ads at 21 percent.

Twitter To Triple Ad Rev By 2014?

MediaPost 1-31-12

By 2014, Twitter is poised to triple ad revenue from $139.5 million in 2011 to $540 million, reports Bloomberg, citing a new forecast from eMarketer. Key to such growth, increasing popularity overseas will decrease the microblogging platform’s reliance on U.S. advertisers. As such, the percentage of dollars coming from the U.S. will fall to 83% in 2014 from about 90% this year, EMarketer forecasts.

FSIs Challenged By Digital Coupons

MediaPost by Steve McClellan 2-2-12

Digital coupon usage continues to gain traction as a marketing tactic, according to a new report by Kantar Media.

The research firm reported that digital coupon distribution was up just over 12% in 2011 versus the prior year. By comparison, the number of coupons printed in freestanding inserts last year was down 6.5%. And year-to-year spending on newspaper inserts declined by 12% to about $1.3 billion.

Kantar reported that there was a 2.5% increase in the number of consumer packaged goods using digital coupons last year.

Of the 291 new product launches last year that used coupon support, 117 or 40% used digital coupons in the media mix, Kantar reported.

On the print side, in 2011, more than $421 billion in consumer incentives were delivered via FSI coupons -- down 6.7% from 2010. During the same period, over 272 billion coupons were distributed within more than 205 billion FSI pages. For the first time in at least the last 10 years, Kantar reported, FSI coupon average face value did not increase. At $1.55, it showed a 0.2% decline versus 2010.

Newsstand magazine sales keep tumbling for People, Enquirer, etc.

LA Times by Tiffany Hsu 2-7-12

Though some brands, such as Food Network Magazine, ended up, single-copy sales of consumer magazines took a hit in the second half of last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Publishers sold 28.9 million newsstand copies – 9.96% less than the number sold over the same period in 2010.

A survey from Pew Research Center shows that 47% of American adults now get at least some of their news on a cellphone or tablet computer.

2.1 million viewers live stream Super Bowl online

Yahoo! News/AP by Jake Coyle 2-7-12

The first live stream of the Super Bowl drew 2.1 million unique viewers, NBC said Thursday...But it was still enough to make it the most-watched single-game sports event online, according to the network.

Previous major sporting events streamed live include the 2010 World Cup by ESPN, the 2010 Olympics by NBC and the annual NCAA men's basketball tournament by CBS and Turner Sports. More recently, ESPN offered live streams of this year's Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, though both of those games were watched by less than 400,000.

In the 2010 World Cup, ESPN said 1.1 million people watched at least some part of the USA's win over Algeria on its website.

The Super Bowl stream had an average user engagement of 39 minutes per visit.

Spotify Dollars Boost Warner Music, but Not as Much as iTunes

AllThingsD by Peter Kafka 2-9-12

Warner Music says revenue didn’t increase last quarter. But it didn’t decrease, either: Sales stayed flat at $780 million.

Digital revenue jumped 17 percent, and now accounts for 28 percent of the company’s sales.

Most interesting is Warner’s take on the kind of digital revenue it is seeing, which we can assume is a rough proxy for the rest of the business.

Downloads — primarily from iTunes, but also Amazon and other players — accounted for $205 million in music revenue last quarter, while payments from streaming services like Spotify and Deezer generated $15 million. But that streaming revenue is growing at a 36 percent clip, compared to 15 percent for downloads.

Zynga's Q4 Ad Revenue Jumped 230%

ClickZ by Christopher Heine 2-14-12

Zynga today revealed Q4 2011 advertising revenues were up 230 percent year-over-year, totaling $27.3 million. For the entire 2011 calendar, ad sales brought in $74.5 million, which the social games developer says represents a 226 percent lift compared to 2010.

But ads made up only a small portion of Zynga's overall revenues, which reached $1.14 billion during 2011, highlighted by an 85 percent increase in games sales.

Marketers: What Mobile Users Will and Won’t Put Up With [INFOGRAPHIC]

Mashable by Sam Laird 2-22-12

Nine in 10 young adults spend between one and five hours on their mobile devices daily.
Nearly one in 10, meanwhile, are on their gadgets between five and ten hours each day.
Just under a third would actually like for brands to send them promotions via smarthphone and tablet, but more than half say that it’s “extremely important” to be able to opt out of such come-ons.

SMBs Up Ad Budgets For Digital Media

MediaPost by Gavin O'Malley 2-28-12

Over the next 12 months, SMBs plan to allocate 26% of their budgets to digital and online media, according to Local Commerce Monitor, BIA/Kelsey’s 15-year tracking study of SMB advertising spending, media usage, Web presence and sales channels.

As a whole, SMBs are particularly interesting in self-serve advertising and promotional tools, including video, social media and search engine marketing.

That would leave 70% for digital and online media, including mobile, social, online directories, online display and digital outdoor; performance-based commerce, including pay-per-click, deals, and couponing; and customer retention business solutions, including email, reputation and presence management.

In sheer dollar terms, U.S. SMB spending on media, marketing and business solutions will grow to reach $40.2 billion by 2015 -– up from $22.4 billion in 2010 -– according to BIA/Kelsey. If accurate, that would represent a compound annual growth rate of 12%.

1-to-1 vs. 1-to-many (It’s ALWAYS 1-to-many…for advertising)

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:26:39 GMT

Broadcast radio is a one to many scenario. Everyone hears the same music or talk, and in between, everyone is bombarded with the same commercials. On broadcast radio it doesn’t matter if the advertiser wanted to target males aged 18-24…every Tom, Dick, Harry and Mary hears those same ads. So what does the advertiser get? A rough guess as to how many of those listeners were actually in the desired demographic, which is topped off with another guess at how many actually heard the ad.

Why all the guesses? Because broadcast radio is measured by panels and surveys. It’s the only way to measure broadcast, but at its heart, it’s a statistical representation of the number of listeners and their demographic.

We don’t have to guess in the online streaming audio world. One-to-many exists here as well, but there are some significant differences. First, through “census based” measurement, we can be extremely precise as to the number of listeners at any time. Second, we’re not limited to the broadcast range of a radio tower because online streaming audio can be listened to anywhere.

From an advertising perspective, I could still use the one-to-many scenario with online streaming audio and send the same ad to every listener, and those listeners could be anywhere. This works great for a national account (they’re actually getting more exposure than broadcast radio can offer…no tower range to worry about). The local accounts are where the second difference comes into play. I can also send geo-specific ads to any of my listeners based on where they are when they’re listening to my station! Sure, it’s still one-to-many, but now the “many” have been targeted and counted.

If you’re Pandora or Slacker, you’re also collecting registration data consisting of gender, year of birth and zip code. Now I can send a local ad to all the men, aged 18-24, in Orange County, CA, while sending a different ad to the same demographic group in Los Angeles County! And while we’re at it, let’s send both groups our national ad…wow…the best of all worlds brought to you through census based measurement.

Here’s the final thought: want to know how many listeners we had, how many were men between 18 and 24, and how many lived in Orange County or LA? We can tell you…no guesses!

Measurement 101

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:31:07 GMT

Measurement and metrics basically fall into two categories: Panel & Survey based, or Census based.

Panel and Survey based measurement and metrics are basically an estimate. One person may be representative of 100 or 500 or 1,000 people...it really depends on the underlying methodology. This includes their media consumption (what, when and how much), age and gender group, and location. But remember, this is an estimation based on a single individual representing some larger group. Through the wonders of statistical attribution, we end up with a somewhat defensible estimate of media consumption. Panel & Survey based estimates are what Nielsen and Arbitron provide for broadcast television and radio respectively.

On the other hand, we have Census based measurement and metrics. Census based data are the real numbers, where 1 equals 1. There are no estimates involved. Census data will tell you that a thirty-five year old male, living in zip code 02069, consumed exactly three hours of media on Monday, and another four hours of media on Tuesday. Additionally, on Monday he listened to one hour of Hot AC, and switched to Classic Rock for the other two hours. On Tuesday, he listened to Classic Rock for the entire 4 hours. During his listening on Monday, his Hot AC and Classic Rock were interspersed with a total of eighteen ads. During one ad with a synchronized banner, he clicked on the banner to be driven to the sponsor's website. This is Census based data...the type measured and reported on by Triton Digital.

How do we get all this Census based data on media consumption? Through registration. In the streaming world, Pandora and Slacker require registration to consume their streams. They each ask for a gender, year of birth and a zip code. Terrestrial streamers are toying with the idea of registration, but are already far behind their Pureplay competitors. Come on guys…catch up. Your streams are valuable to your consumers...you've built a brand that they return to day in and day out...go ahead...ask them for some additional information!

Finally, if you're an advertiser or agency, why in the world aren't you sinking more dollars into such an accountable media? Sure, streaming is in its infancy, but there are already significant numbers out there. The measurement and metrics are fairly mature, and actually are MRC accredited! What are we waiting for?

In Case You Missed It Oct 2011

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:30:42 GMT

New website, new blog, same “In Case You Missed It”. “In Case You Missed It” is back. It is a monthly collection of news stories and data that pertain to radio, music, digital, social media and media in general, plus a whole lot more. Look for it each month right here on the Triton Digital blog.

VSS Predicts Growth for Radio Revenue

FMQB 9-29-11

· VSS forecasts a 1.7 percent growth in overall expenditures in broadcast and satellite radio this year, "driven by steady growth in broadcast and satellite, and double-digit gains in the digital platforms of broadcast and satellite radio companies.

· VSS also predicts that despite the state of the economy, U.S. Communications spending is expected to increase 4.1% in 2011 and expand at a 5.5 percent CAGR from 2010 to 2015 to $1.407 Trillion. Targeted Media is projected to be the fastest-growing industry sector in 2011, as well as the 2010-2015 Period, expanding at a CAGR of 7.9 percent to $272.5 Billion in 2015. VSS expect sector growth to be driven primarily by Internet & Mobile Services and Branded Entertainment Segments. #revenue

Display Advertising Shifts from Direct Response to Branding Media

MediaPost 9-30-11 by Laurie Sullivan

· Brand marketers looking for alternative strategies to connect with consumers have begun to focus attention on display advertising, a medium historically known to elicit a direct response.

· Most planning to buy media in display look toward clicks, impressions and conversions to measure performance. But the more important metrics often point to return on ad spend, online searches for brand names, product recall, and sales.

· There is evidence through recent campaigns from brands like Sealy and Animal Planet, along with research from Collective, that online display advertising continues to shift from a direct-response form of advertising to branding media.

· “The Digital Advertising 2011: A Portrait of Conflict” study released by Collective finds 57% of agencies believe the majority of their display objectives are to build the brand, yet only 11% cite ad creative as critical to the campaign's success.

· Still, 60% of agencies cite brand recall and intent to purchase as the most important measures of online success. However, clicks and conversions remain the key criteria agencies say they use to evaluate media, according to the Collective study. #display

Mobile Spending Leads Direct Marketing Growth

ClickZ 10-3-11 by Kate Kaye

· Spending on digital marketing will be led by mobile, according to the latest edition of the Direct Marketing Association's biennial report. The trade group predicts mobile direct marketing spending to grow 51 percent this year and 39 percent in 2012.

· Together the DMA projects spending on digital direct marketing will hit $31.3 billion this year and $35.4 billion in 2012. The total encompasses online search and display, social networking, mobile, commercial email, and other forms of digital channels such as rich media and advergaming.

· Search and display spending account for the largest portions of digital media spending by direct marketers. The channels will maintain growth, but will slow in 2012, according to the DMA. Both channels are set to rise 18.3 percent this year, with search reaching $14 billion and display $8.5 billion. Search growth will taper to around 12 percent next year, hitting $15.6 billion; display is expected to increase by 11 percent in 2012 and reach $9.5 billion. #mobile

comScore: Mobile Approaches Tipping Point, Driving Incremental Web Traffic

MediaPost 10-4-11 by Joe Mandese

· Mobile media is approaching a standard measure of "critical mass”… Donovan released data showing that nearly 48% of America's 112 million mobile phone users now regularly use their devices to access media content, other than voice or text, and that number will tip the halfway mark by the end of the year.

· While conventional computers still account for 93.2% of all Web traffic, according to the latest comScore estimates, Donovan said "mobile devices" - especially smartphones and tablets - now account for nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of all non-personal computer-connected Web access, and are growing fast. Among those mobile devices, Donovan said tablets are the fastest-growing segment, and that tablet devices now represent 28.1% of all non-computer traffic to the Web, and that Apple's iPads are the dominant portion (97%) of that market.

· While mobile traffic still is a tiny slice of the total Internet (just 0.2%), it is adding significant incremental reach for specific categories of content. Mobile boosts traffic to online mapping services 56.8%, and increases the duration of time users spend on mapping sites by 9.2 times.

· Donovan said mobile has also become a significant factor for social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, where many users access them solely via mobile devices. #mobile

Mobile Ad Spend Estimated To Hit $4.4B In 2015

MediaPost 10-4-11 by Steve Smith

· Revising its estimates upward for 2011 and onward, eMarketer projects that mobile ad spend for 2011 will total $1.23 billion.

· The spend represents a 65% increase since 2010. eMarketer analyst Noah Elkin says the 2011 ad spend calculation is only slightly higher than the company's previous target, but the forecast for coming years has been revised more substantially.

· In 2012, the company is expecting a 47% increase to $1.8 billion, a 40% rise in 2013 to $2.5 billion, another 34% expansion in 2014 to $3.4 billion and a 30% increase in 2015 to $4.4 billion. #mobile

Radio’s share of ad spending to decline through 2013, says ZenithOptimedia

RadioInfo.com 10-4-11

· ...Publicis-owned ZenithOptimedia finds that U.S. ad spending still hasn't recovered to the level of 2008. For U.S. radio, the prediction is that its take of total ad spending will drop from 7.2% last year to 7.1% this year, 7% in 2012 and 6.9% in 2013.

Mobile advertising growth patterns will mirror digital — only much faster.

InsideRadio 10-7-11

· Radio’s share of ad spending lags the total ad industry, but there’s no more lopsided media than mobile. It is estimated to take one-half of one percent of ad dollars this year, versus an 8% share of media time. But as mobile closes the gap, its drawing dollars from other media. “It’s starting to take share within the print space — magazines and newspapers — and eating a little into radio,” PHD president/chief digital officer Craig Atkinson says. “You’re going to see more of that traditional share move into the mobile space.”

· A new eMarketer forecast predicts mobile advertising will total $1.23 billion this year, up from $743 million a year ago. Analysts forecast it will reach $4.4 billion by 2015. When compared to digital, Atkinson says mobile touches people in a way that the internet hasn’t — few take their laptop to bed but cell phones are the adult security blanket. “It plugs into all the different channels better than digital was ever able to do,” he says. #mobile

Read More: www.insideradio.com

New AOL Radio Unveiled Powered By Slacker

RadioInk 10-19-11

· AOL has relaunched the newly redesigned AOL Radio which is now powered by Slacker and has 50% less audio advertising. New custom artist stations have also been added along with ESPN Radio and AOL’s 200+ stations.

· AOL Radio powered by Slacker will continue to offer over 200 radio stations programmed by AOL Radio music directors. These professional music curators are award-winning DJs and music critics with decades of experience and knowledge that spans the full breadth of music. On top of this, the relaunched service offers new stations, including popular non-music programming like ESPN Radio with more to come, including ABC News.

· Next month, in addition to the free service that is available today, AOL Radio powered by Slacker will offer two subscription products for users who want an even richer and more customizable listening experience. Radio Plus will feature completely ad-free listening without audio or banner advertisements, as well as unlimited song skips, song lyrics, and offline listening for mobile. Premium Radio will have all the features of Radio Plus as well as on-demand listening by song, album, artist or custom playlist. #streaming

Survey finds FM/AM still tops in-car but streaming is gaining.

Inside Radio 10-20-11

· Eight-in-ten Americans say they listened to the radio while in the car during the previous three months according to a NPD Group survey. That’s down two percentage points from the previous year.

· Nearly one-third (29%) of survey respondents said they used a smartphone to listen to music in the car, an increase of 9% over a year ago.

· “A tipping point is approaching when vehicles and portable devices move from a tethered connection to a more integrated one,” NPD entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick says. “Smart devices streaming music could end up being the largest threat to CDs and broadcast radio since the dawn of digital music.” #streaming

Read More: www.insideradio.com

STRATA: Advertisers Less Focused On Radio In Q3

FMQB 10-21-11

· STRATA has released a new survey of ad agencies, showing that the advertising industry has been resilient despite the tough economy. The survey looks at third quarter advertising compared to Q3 2010, and found that 52 percent of respondents said their business is increasing compared to the same time last year (only 16.5 percent saw a decrease in business, down 30 percent from a year ago).

· Unfortunately, STRATA found that radio took a downturn, as 37 percent of ad agencies surveyed said they are less focused on it as they were a year ago. Local TV remains the medium of choice (35 percent), though it is just barely beating out Digital (34 percent), which is up 43 percent since last quarter. #revenue

Facebook Usage Beats TV During Work Hours

eMarketer 10-25-11

· Facebook is gradually attaining parity with TV as a mass medium. During working hours, the social network has already beaten the boob tube in consumer media time spent.

· Between 9am and 5pm, more consumers surveyed reported using Facebook than watching TV. This was true for each age group broken out from ages 15 to 46. Among the youngest consumer group, 8- to 14-year-olds dubbed “iGens,” 16% logged on to Facebook during those hours, the same percentage who said they tuned in to TV.

· Millennials were the most stalwart Facebook users during the work day. Thirty percent of teen millennials (ages 15 to 17) spent time on the social network, vs. 24% who spent time with TV. Among adult millennials, 44% said they went on Facebook (presumably while at work or school) during the 9am to 5pm period, while 28% watched TV.

· Around 40% of millennials surveyed say they continue to use Facebook into the evening hours, but a much higher percentage (between 43% and 51%) say they watch TV. #social

Netflix Dominates Peak-Time Video Traffic

MediaPost by Wayne Friedman 10-26-11

· Netflix may be hitting more than a few bumps on the road -- but from a pure bandwidth share of video it is still way ahead of other video sites.

· Netflix now accounts for 32.7% share of peak time video traffic -- this from a new survey by Sandvine, a bandwidth management company. This is up from Netflix's 20% share of U.S. bandwidth consumption, according to a Sandvine 2010 study.

· Sandvine says "peak" time period demand is a two-hour evening period -- 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Overall streaming video represents 60% of all peak downstream bandwidth use.

· Major differences between Netflix and YouTube: Netflix users spend 77% of the time watching its videos from a TV-connected device…

· Overall, 55% of streaming video traffic comes via game consoles, set-top boxes, broadband-connected TVs and mobile devices in the home; 45% comes from desktop and laptop computers. #video

Digital Ad Spend Up, Better Metrics Needed

MediaPost 10-26-11 Gavin O’Malley

· Brands and agencies will increase spending on digital video advertising by 25% over the next 12 months, according to a new report from Casale Media. If accurate, that will amount to about 23.8% of total online ad budgets, it estimates.

· Separately, a recent study by eMarketer found that 85% of advertisers and ad buyers are more likely to book video ads if the planning, creative and execution of video ad campaigns are more simple and painless.

· Casale also calls for increased “awareness” of video’s effectiveness. Marketers and agencies already view digital video advertising as one of the most effective ways to realize brand lift. A full 80% of the survey's respondents use video ads to increase awareness of traditional and new brands, products and/or services. #revenue

Affluency: New Survey Reveals Growing Media Use

Ad Age 10-27-11 By Stephen Kraus & Bob Shullman

· Internet use is already essentially universal among the affluent, with 98% going online. The surprising finding from the 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent survey is that in the past year alone, affluent internet use rose about 20%, to more than 30 hours in a typical week. Ownership of devices that serve as on-ramps to the connected world rose significantly among the affluent as well: ownership of smartphones rose by a third, ownership of e-readers nearly tripled, and ownership of tablets more than quadrupled.

· As we examine our 2011 data, what is particularly interesting, besides what's up (internet use) is "what's not down" -- which is essentially every other form of media consumption. Our measures of print use remain essentially unchanged from 2010: 82% read at least one of the 152 publications we measure, reflecting an audience of almost 48 million affluent adults, who on average read more than six different publication titles. Television shows a similar pattern of near-universal and relatively stable use, with most key metrics unchanged from 2010: 98% watched TV in the past seven days, and 94% receive cable/satellite signals, while averaging more than 17 hours a week of television watched.

· Media use, clearly, is not a zero-sum game: more time online does not necessarily translate to less time in other media. #media

In Case You Missed It Nov 2011

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:30:33 GMT

BIA/Kelsey: Local Digital Advertising Outpacing Overall Ad Market

Inside Radio 11-3-11

· The overall local media market will grow slowly during the next five years, at a 1.7% annual growth rate, according to an updated forecast to be released next week by BIA/Kelsey. Local ad dollars will increase from $135.9 billion this year to $149.4 billion in 2015. Digital will drive a majority of that growth as more marketers shift their dollars to interactive platforms. “Digital solutions are driving growth across the advertising industry,” senior VP/PD of interactive local media Matt Booth says.

· In 2010, 14.6% of total local ad dollars went to digital and 85.4% to traditional. But by 2015, the numbers will have changed significantly, with 25.4% going to digital (or about $37.9 billion) and 74.6% to traditional. “The mix is shifting to digital channels,” Booth says. “It’s something we think will accelerate and it’s a trend we’re seeing all round the globe.”

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Publishers Optimistic About Online Video Ad Growth

eMarketer 11-4-11

· The online advertising industry has its eyes on online video, the fastest-growing digital ad format. eMarketer expects online video ad spending to reach $2.2 billion by year’s end, up 52.1% from 2010. By 2015, it will account for $7.1 billion in online ad spending.

· More than three-quarters of US online publishers expect online video advertising—in some form—to be a top revenue generator for 2012.

· Most publishers (63%) are betting on in-stream video ads, such as pre-roll or mid-roll units, to generate the most revenue. Nine percent said in-banner video would bring in the most ad dollars.

· US online publishers plan to raise their average cost per impression (CPM) in the coming quarter; therefore, cost will be a continued factor for online video advertisers. Sixty-three percent anticipate CPM hikes of 15% or more; only 7% of publishers expect no increase.

SQAD-Inside Radio CPM Tracker: Smaller Gains, But CPMs Still Climb Higher

Inside Radio 11-2-11

· The size of price increases paid by advertisers shrunk last month, a factor largely driven by year-over-year comps against big increases seen a year ago. The SQAD-Inside Radio CPM Tracker shows the average October spot buy was placed at CPMs 4% higher than one year earlier. It’s the smallest increase of 2011— and was half the average 8% CPM gain posted in September and under the 9% increase in both August and July.

· Other factors also appear at work. In October 2010, political spending pushed CPMs up by as much as 15%, making for difficult year-to-year comparisons.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Ericsson Forecasts 5b Mobile Broadband Subscribers, Data Traffic To Grow Tenfold, By 2016

TechCrunch by Robin Wauters 11-7-11

· By 2016, Ericsson also predicts mobile broadband subscriptions to exceed 5 billion in its latest Traffic and Market Data report. The company earlier predicted that number to surpass 1 billion in 2011, but now forecasts 900 million subscribers by year’s end.

· According to the report, mobile data traffic will double this year, mainly due to surging sales of smartphones, tablets and other devices. Total smartphone traffic is expected to triple during 2011. Users living on less than 1 percent of the earth’s land area are expected to generate around 60 percent of mobile traffic by 2016, the company says.

Social, Mobile Ramp Up Ad Dollars, Interactive On Rise

MediaPost by Mark Walsh 11-9-11

· The Publicis-owned agency said client advertising dollars directed to each of those areas ramped up significantly last year, with its overall billings up 20% in 2010 and expected to increase 25% this year. Emerging segments still represents a small portion of paid media budgets -- exchanges account for less than 10%, and social and mobile 4% apiece last year.

· Search and display still command the lion’s share of spending, at 36% and 43%, respectively.

· The rise of programmatic audience-buying via exchanges as a mainstream way to buy and sell digital media has been one of the key industry developments since last year. Razorfish expects client spending will grow again 60% this year. “That’s a trend we’ve expected, but it just speaks to the maturation of that business,” said Jeff Lanctot, chief media officer at Razorfish.

· Research by Razorfish and Yahoo included in the report, for instance, found that nearly 80% of survey participants are busy on their mobile devices while watching TV at home. Within that group, 15% will stay on their device for the entirety of a show. Some 38% actively search for more information about content or ads they see on TV.

Drivers To Hear More Pandora Ads Than Desktop Listeners

Inside Radio 11-9-11

· Broadcast radio faces growing competition from Pandora Media, which has ramped up its effort to gain distribution through in-car entertainment services. But users who tune in while driving may notice something different: more commercials. The streaming music service says it will compensate for lack of on-player display ads by serving more in-stream audio. “We would expect that consumers will take a little bit more audio load in the automobile because they know they’re not getting display ads,” CFO Steve Cakebread said.

· He told the Wells Fargo media conference yesterday in New York that the commercial load will be “a little bit heavier” than the webcaster’s typical three :15-second spots per hour, although he didn’t say by how much. “Compared to your favorite radio station that’s doing 12 to 15 minutes an hour, the audio loads will never get that high for Pandora,” Cakebread pledged.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Popularity Of Net-Connected Devices To Drive Demand For Content, Says Gartner

RAIN by Paul Maloney 11-9-11

· As consumer spending on CDs and LPs is expected to slide from $15 billion to about $10 billion 2010-2015, Gartner forecasts end-user revenue for online music sales and services will grow more than 31% over that same time span: from $5.9 billion in 2010 to $7.7 billion in 2015. Subscription services (e.g. Spotify, MOG, Rdio, and Pandora) alone will take in $532.1 million this year, growing to $808 million next year.

· Online music revenue from end users will grow more than 31% by the end of the forecast period: from $5.9 billion in 2010 to $7.7 billion in 2015. By comparison, consumer spending on physical music (CDs and LPs) is expected to slide from around $15 billion in 2010 to around $10 billion in 2015.

· Online music subscription services, such as Spotify, will be the main growth sector in this market, showing fivefold growth from 2010 to 2015. A la carte sales will drive the bulk of overall revenue.

· The highest growth rates will be in regions such as Latin America and the Middle East and Africa, which have not historically been strong in paying for tracks or albums from online services or stores (although perhaps stronger in paid-for ringtones from their service providers).

Full Report: http://www.gartner.com/resources/217200/217238/media_ias_online_music_forec_217238.pdf

Print Goes Mobile

MediaPost by Jack Loechner 11-16-11

· 85% of the magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and Canada currently offer mobile content for e-readers, smartphones or tablets. Just 76% of magazines and newspapers offered mobile content last year. “Going Mobile: How Publishers Are Maturing and Monetizing Their Offerings,” found that 88% of newspapers, 83% of consumer magazines and 79% of business publications offered mobile content.

· 83% of magazines share their content on mobile devices, up 26% from last year. Business publications have also seen a large jump in mobile distribution. In 2010, 58% of b-to-b survey respondents said they had mobile content. This year, that number increased to 79%. Newspapers show the highest percentage of penetration.

Big Gains Projected For In-Stream Audio Ad Sales In 2012

Inside Radio 11-16-11

· Even if Borrell Associates projections about radio revenue are a little off, the industry will have a banner growth year selling digital advertising. The firm forecasts radio’s total online ad revenue will jump 85% to $539.4 million in 2012. But the industry’s share of total local online spending will remain small: climbing from an estimated 1.9% this year to 2.9%. Borrell expects digital audio advertising to be bigger than on-site display ads for the first time in 2012.

· “We’re going to start seeing streaming audio as a local online advertising format that becomes a force to reckon with,” Borrell EVP Peter Conti says. The firm predicts online audio ads, which this year will capture about 1.7% of total online spending, to more than double to take 3.2% of dollars next year.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Follow The Dollars To Mobile, Borrell Advises

Inside Radio 11-16-11

· While traditional local online ad spending will grow double-digits again next year, the real sizzle to this advertising steak is now found in mobile spending. Borrell Associates forecasts 88% of all local online advertising will [be] viewed on tablets, smartphones or GPS-enabled laptops by 2016. “In the next couple of years the explosion of dollars will be in mobile, and radio needs to be prepared to capture that,” Borrell EVP Peter Conti says. The firm’s forecast calls for local mobile advertising to balloon by 66% in 2012 to $4.3 billion.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Facebook Users Are Slow to ‘Like’ Brands and Retailers

eMarketer 11-18-11

· Branded Facebook pages do not fare as well as other types of content, though, according to a Crowd Science survey. They had the lowest number of “likes” (9% of users) compared to wall posts, photos and comments (16%) and videos (12%). The most popular reasons for “liking” a page tied between showing support and enjoying what was being said, both at 28%. Neither are attributes most often associated with brands.

· Among the online buyers who had “liked” a retailer’s Facebook page, the most important feature was the presence of sales and promo codes...

· It is not easy for brands to compete with friends and family on Facebook since corporations are essentially faceless.

Mobile Marketers Demand Better Ad Performance, Standards

MediaPost by Laurie Sullivan 11-17-11

· It's still far too difficult to buy advertising online, and about 90% of ads on publisher sites never appear on a part of the screen that consumers view without scrolling down the page, said Greg Stuart, Global CEO, Mobile Marketing Association, during opening remarks at the industry conference in Los Angeles.

· Ciangiulli said those who want to buy inventory targeting consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 must purchase the inventory from multiple mobile ad networks to try and reach an audience. If they want to advertise through mobile operators, the advertiser needs to buy inventory through each operator in a market.

Pandora Brings In Record Q3 On Lower Profits

RBR 11-22-11

· Its fiscal Q3 2012 (yes, they march to the beat of a different calendar) revenue grew 99% YOY; quarterly total listener hours of 2.1 billion grew 104% YOY; and its 66% share of U.S. Internet radio grew from 53% in Q3 ’11. Total revenues for the quarter rose to $75.01 million from $37.69 million in the prior year quarter. However, Pandora's Q3 profit fell 39% amid increased expenses for content acquisition. Content acquisition costs more than doubled to $37.6 million during the quarter.

· For Q3, ad revenue was $66.0 million, a 102% YOY increase. Subscription and other revenue was $9.0 million, an 80% YOY increase.

· For Q4, revenue is expected to be in the range of $80 million to $84 million. Non-GAAP net loss per common share is expected to be between $0.04 and $0.02. Analysts expect the company to report a loss of $0.02 per share on revenues of $82.25 million for Q4.

· RBR-TVBR observation: Content acquisition costs more than doubled during the quarter. The yin-yang is the more users it attracts, the more it must pay labels in licensing fees. But the more streaming, the more ad inventory they have available to sell.

Mobile Advertising Exploding

MediaPost by Jack Loechner 11-23-11

· According to the Q3 S.M.A.R.T.™ report, an in-depth look at the mobile advertising landscape, brands are spending more, and trying a variety of things to drive campaign success. Local market targeting grew 50% quarter-over-quarter, and certain “post-click” options like the ability to watch video, grew 78% quarter-over-quarter. In addition, 6 different verticals grew over 140% year-over-year.

· Finance was the top US advertising vertical on our network. Entertainment and Retail/Restaurants were in the second and third spots, respectively.

· Entertainment was the top International advertising vertical on our network.

· Campaigns that allowed consumers to view a map grew 27% quarter-over-quarter. As advertisers continued to reach local consumers, the “view map” option was used to drive them into physical locations.

· When consumers used their mobile phones while shopping in Q3, the top activity was to search for particular items to try and find a better price. The second most popular activity was to read product reviews.

· mCommerce campaigns experienced a 17% growth quarter-over-quarter.

In Case You Missed It Dec 2011

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:30:23 GMT

Q3 ’11 Internet Advertising Revenues Up 22% from Year Ago, Climb to Nearly $7.9 Billion, According to IAB and PwC

IAB.net 11-30-11

· Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. hit $7.88 billion for the third quarter of 2011, representing a 22 percent increase over the same period in 2010, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report figures released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US. These figures also show a 2.7 percent uptick from the record-setting revenues of the second quarter of 2011. Results for Q3 2011 further mark the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

· Search remains the largest online advertising revenue format, accounting for 49% of first six-months 2011 revenues, up from 47% in 2010. Search revenues for the first six months of 2011 totaled $7.3 billion, up 27% from $5.7 billion in 2010.

· Top 50 companies command 89% of revenues in Q2 2011

· Approximately 64% of Q2 2011 revenues were priced on a performance basis, up from the 61% reported in Q2 2010.

Read More: http://bit.ly/w5bP6r

2012 Trends: Cloud-Based Music Streaming

eMarketer 12-1-11

· Discrete downloads and ringtones were once hailed as promising revenue streams but both have fizzled. Even the company that pioneered the legal download model, Apple, is now pushing a cloud-based alternative, iCloud. Amazon is making a similar push with its Cloud Drive.

· The key to the long-term survival of these services is whether they can generate enough revenue for themselves...

· As an indication of how streaming fits into the consumption spectrum, in September 2011 roughly equal percentages of US music consumers purchased music online, bought physical copies and streamed for free, according to a survey by music retailer eMusic.

Agency Forecasters Flex Their Quads, Say Effects Will Sustain 2012 Ad Growth

MediaPost 12-5-11 by Steve McClellan

· ... Publicis Groupe’s Zenith Optimedia is predicting global ad spending growth next year of 4.7% to nearly $486 billion -- more than a full percentage point higher than the 3.5% growth the agency now says to expect for full-year 2011, which would bring this year’s worldwide total to $464.3 billion.

· In the U.S., growth next year will be short of the global pace -- up 3.5% to $160.3 billion, per the ZO forecast. But year-to-year growth in the U.S. will be up, as the agency is standing by its October call that 2011 will be up 2.2% to nearly $155 billion.

· In the U.S., GroupM predicts that spending next year will grow 4% to $153 billion, which would be slightly higher than the 3.3% growth expected for full-year 2011, when the total is expected to reach $147 billion. Both ZO and GroupM are presenting their ad spending forecasts in detail at the UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York on Monday.

· Spending next year in political, Olympics and the European Football finals will contribute between 1 and 1.5 percentage points of the expected 2012 growth in ad spend...

· Not so long ago, [Steve King, global CEO at ZenithOptimedia] said, three or four markets made up 70% of total ad spend, including the U.S., which still accounts for about one-third of all expenditures. "But now you really have to look at the top 30 or 40 markets" to get a good read on full spending picture, he said.

Here's What a Twitter Follower Costs

ClickZ 12-6-11 by Christopher Heine

· The memo included cost-per-follower (CPF) rates for Promoted Accounts and cost-per-engagement (CPE) for Promoted Tweets.

· The CPF runs between $2.50 and $4, while the listed CPE rates come in from $0.75 to $2.50. For CPE, "engagement" refers to clicks, favorites, retweets and "@Replies."

· As has been the case for a while, Twitter advertisers must commit to three months at a minimum spend of $15,000.

Read More: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2130610/heres-twitter-follower-costs

Online Video Viewing Passes 50% of Total US Population

eMarketer 12-8-11

· Having surpassed 50% penetration among the general population in 2011, online video viewing is now a mass-market pursuit. Increasing numbers of Americans are watching more content on more devices than ever before.

· By 2015, US online video viewers will represent 60% of the general population and 76% of internet users.

· Among online video viewers, watching premium content is becoming increasingly popular. eMarketer estimates that 49% of US adult online video viewers watched full-length TV shows on the web at least monthly this year, rising to 62.8% by 2015. Full-length movies are also becoming popular for web viewing, with 37.1% of US adult online video viewers downloading or streaming at least one feature film monthly in 2011. That viewership rate is expected to increase to 54.1% in 2015.

· In 2011, US smartphone viewers represent 90% of the mobile video population, according to eMarketer estimates. By 2015, this percentage will rise to 98.5%.

New analysis shows old problem: Radio still getting short-changed by ad buyers.

Inside Radio 12-13-11

· Radio captures 14.6% of the average consumer’s time with media but only 10.9% of ad spending. Likewise the amount of ad dollars going to digital does not yet reflect the amount of time consumers have invested in these areas of their lives, eMarketer says. Mobile, for example, has more than a 10% share of adults’ media time each day, but less than 1% of ad dollars.

· The internet’s time spent share is 25.9% while its ad share spending is 21.9%. Time spent with both the internet and mobile phones were up — by 7.7% and 30%, respectively, while time spent with radio is down, according to eMarketer.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Marketers Analyze What It Means When Customers 'Like' Their Pages - Companies think fans want to be heard and to hear news about the brand

eMarketer 12-21-11

· 57 percent of marketers thought a “like” meant the content on the site was agreeable, and 41% thought it meant customers wanted to be heard. Only 33% of marketers said they thought customers were looking for incentives or rewards for their “like.”

· ...only 24% of marketers thought that when a consumer “likes” a company that it means they are also a loyal customer.

· Yet, among Facebook-using consumers, 49% said they “like” a brand on the site because they are already loyal customers. Since not all Facebook fans are loyal customers, this gives marketers an opportunity to leverage the social network to encourage purchases and loyalty among their fans.

SQAD-Inside Radio CPM Tracker: Tough comps sap December pricing gains.

12-21-11 Inside Radio

· A year after radio CPMs rocketed up by double-digits during December 2010, those gains created a sizeable hurdle for the industry to beat. Facing that difficult year-to-year comparison, the SQAD-Inside Radio CPM Tracker shows the average December spot buy was placed at CPMs essentially flat compared to one year earlier.

· But when looked at on a two-year trend, business was placed at CPMs that were 13% higher than in December 2009.

· Prior to the current month’s flat finish, CPMs grew 9% in August, 8% in September, 4% in October and 1% in November. The radio industry faces similar CPM comps next month when rates will be compared to January 2011’s increase of 12%. Political dollars will being flowing in some markets, which may also skew the national CPM averages. SQAD collects data on $4 billion worth of advertising each year from advertisers and agencies based on actual orders, not rate cards or revenue estimates.

Read More: www.insideradio.com

Mobile To Hit 15% Of Ad Spend By 2016

MediaPost 12-21-11 by Mark Walsh

· The spread of smartphones and the expansion of mobile media will help the global mobile ad market grow more than six-fold from $3.4 billion in 2010 to $22 billion in 2016, according to a new forecast by Berg Insight. That translates to a 37% annual growth rate, taking mobile from 3.8% of total ad spending to 15.2% in five years.

· Still, the Berg report acknowledges that the mobile ecosystem is still fragmented, with a number of different players vying to establish strong positions in the nascent ad market. In particular, big Internet and technology players like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Yahoo are battling to control large swaths of the mobile ad infrastructure.

Facebook to Eclipse $5 Billion in Ad Sales in 2012

ClickZ 12-20-11 by ClickZ Stats Staff

· ...a prediction from Enders Analysis that the digital giant will reach $5.3 billion in display advertising next year seems about right. According to eMarketer, Facebook's display ad revenue will total $3.8 billion at this year's end, representing a 104 percent growth compared to 2010.

· ...Facebook ad sales will jump 39 percent year over year by the end of 2012. Enders and eMarketer give Facebook the title of No. 1 display advertising seller over Google.