All forms of broadcast.
The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) today released a 2013 revenue report for broadcast radio. By a wide margin, digital revenue led other income segments in year-over-year comparisons. Overall revenues were flat in 2013, when examined through two lenses: full year-over-year, and Q4 2013 vs. Q4 2012. Digital is growing fast from a small percentage of total radio revenue — 5% in 2013. Continue Reading
This guest column is from Anthony Gherghetta, Creative Director at The App Studio in Melbourne, Australia. “Broadcast radio is at a pivot point where it needs to slightly change direction or risk being left behind. In two or three years the ship will have sailed. Revolutions need revolutionaries and radio needs them now.” Continue Reading
Editor’s Notebook: Shortly before noon today, my Android phone pinged with an iHeartRadio notification of a deadly explosion and building collapse in New York. Good job. But the resulting radio experience was ruinous, putting radio’s commercial-load problem in bold relief. There might be a solution. Continue Reading
Jelli has completed its transformation from a listening app to an ad platform with today’s announcement of SpotPlan, which Jelli claims is the first programmatic advertising platform for radio. Programmatic ad-buying is well-established on the Web at large, and is used for planning ad campaigns in streaming audio. Continue Reading
WNYC, flagship station of New York Public Radio, announced that NYPR received a $10-million grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, a past major supporter. Most of the money is targeted to development of online products and mobile apps, with the remainder going to WNYC’s Manhattan performance space. Continue Reading
Earlier this week, RAINNews reported that an FM station in Boston – WKLB – is running spots for iTunes Radio. The spots are live reads, done by radio station personalities. When asked, the station, owned by Greater Media, issued a statement that kind of sounded like: “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” This doesn’t seem like an especially well thought-out strategy. Continue Reading
We were tipped over the weekend by Robert Maccini, who notified RAIN that he had heard an iTunes Radio commercial on a Boston FM station, WKLB. Maccini listened until he heard the ad again, and pounced with a recording device. Click through to hear the live-read commercial. Continue Reading
Should broadcast radio be required to pay royalties to labels and recording artists for use of their records? There are arguments on both sides, and the stalemate reinforces inertia. But the debate is heating up, gaining publicity, and creating awareness of an issue that many people don’t know about. Continue Reading
A new survey report conducted by Borrell Associates for the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) reveals that the online revenues of radio stations grew 15% in 2013, and is projected to grow 22% above that higher level this year. The impressive growth is not all in online advertising. Continue Reading
A field report from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, by guest columnist James Cridland. Will smartphone handset companies decide that they can profitably create their own music services? Nokia and Sony are promoting their home-grown music services in the Barcelona trade show. Continue Reading
RAIN founder Kurt Hanson calculates how a legendary Milwaukee radio station could improve a surprisingly low Nielsen rating. What can you do with an underperforming AM signal nowadays? What’s the best use of heritage call letters? Is “live and local” a viable option? Continue Reading
Edison Research presented its new study, #MeetTheMillennials, at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville yesterday. The surveys and interviews assessed how Millennials listen to music at home, at work, and in their cars. What role does FM play, in an increasingly Internet-delivered world? Continue Reading