July 20, 2015
Across radio, stations are experimenting with original video—shooting on location, at events and in studio—to deepen audience connections and build their brand. With video, users get to see more of what they love on-air: A view into their favorite DJs’ lives, hilarious stunts, access to musicians and a behind-the-velvet-rope look at concerts. And it offers stations new revenue possibilities, with clients hungry for video advertising. So video isn’t killing the radio star; it’s radio’s latest tool. And it’s a logical extension, according to BIA/Kelsey’s SVP and senior economist Mark Fratrik. "They have a brand name, they can cross-promote on the air, and, most importantly, they have feet on the street," Fratrik says. One in four U.S. adults watches original digital video programming at least once a month, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Some stations’ video is slick and well-produced, packaged with advertisers and promoted on-air. More spontaneous offerings, shot on an iPhone or GoPro, get posted quickly to social media. Either way, video fits squarely into radio’s multiplatform strategy, feeding websites, apps and social media channels. Users share them, or click through to a station’s website, giving broadcasters exposure and metrics to sell, and new inventory for clients. The more views and shares, the better, execs say. Some videos go viral, such as iHeartMedia-New York classic rocker "Q104.3" WAXQ’s mash-up of Kayne West and late-Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (viewed 39 million times), interspersing West’s panned performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Mercury’s version, and shots of West looking forlorn. It’s part of iHeart’s aggressive video strategy. "We’re curating the most in-the-moment content and sharing it on every available platform," says iHeartRadio’s Gayle Troberman, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer.
Vision Quest—Video Ads Are On the Rise. Online and mobile video consumption is exploding, and stations and advertisers want in. Four billion videos are viewed daily on Facebook and 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, notes Lori Lewis, VP of social media for Cumulus Media. "Video offers us the ability to share moments in an even more real-time way," she says. And there are great possibilities for monetizing video. For now, most stations are selling video as part of multiplatform deals, but advertiser demand is growing. Borrell Associates estimates advertisers will spend $7.7 billion on video advertising in local markets this year, while BIA/Kelsey forecasts video ads will grow more than 20% annually over the next four years. Those forecasts include ads in pre-roll video, cobranded video and placed video ads, and all of those can mesh with a station’s original video content. Gayle Troberman, EVP and chief marketing officer of iHeartMedia, says some clients want to collaborate "from the ground up" on ideas that fit their brand and target audience, such as a recent comprehensive program with Chevy for its "Best Day Ever" campaign, which included branded video. In other cases, she notes, video ideas bubble up and then iHeart recruits sponsors. That’s the task for an upcoming series, "On the Fly with Paul Costabile," featuring iHeart personality Costabile’s antics with artists and celebrities, including getting Chris Martin to ad-lib a ballet about an old shoe, and beatboxing with Ed Sheeran. Costabile started out as a Web producer for CHR WKTU, New York (103.5) creating his own funny videos, and execs took notice. "It helped us understand how we could thoughtfully extend how we do [video]," Owen Grover, iHeartRadio’s SVP/GM said.
Nielsen Set To Break Its Voltair Silence. When it comes to Voltair, Nielsen has been almost as quiet as the inaudible tones its PPM encoders insert in broadcast signals. But a break in the silence is expected tomorrow when the measurement giant hosts a clients-only webinar to address the controversial audio processor that has been the talk of the industry for the better part of 2015. In addition to long-awaited Voltair test results, Nielsen says it will provide an update on "planned enhancements to the PPM." Broadcasters are hopeful that will entail more than window dressing. The participation of chief engineer Arun Ramaswamy on the webinar is seen optimistically by some as a possible signal that the company will make significant improvements to its encoders, which many believe are causing audiences to be undercounted. Seen as a skillful scientist, Ramaswamy has developed some 75 patents and handles engineering and technologies for the company’s TV ratings, digital ratings and watermarking. The other two hosts on the webinar are SVP product leadership Jennifer Huston, and EVP of local media client solutions Matt O’Grady, who has been the top radio industry-facing executive at the company since it acquired Arbitron in 2013. While broadcasters say they’re anxious for Nielsen to improve its PPM encoders, they’re also concerned that it will make changes without adequate testing or customer input. Nielsen said it began lab-testing the Voltair earlier this year. Voltair monitors the strength of Nielsen’s inaudible watermarks and tweaks the station’s audio to increase the likelihood of those codes being picked up by ratings meters. But efforts to conduct real-world tests were hampered, broadcasters say, by a reluctance among stations and companies to collaborate with the company. Most have kept their use of the processor a secret and Nielsen has said it has no way of knowing who’s using it and for how long.
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